ANOMALOUS RECORDS

Agitation Free
"The Other Sides of Agitation Free"
CD
$14.00
Garden Of Delights (Germany)
GOD 032
"When Burghard Rausch and Michael Hoenig left Agitation Free in 1974, the band was almost in a state of apparent death. Yet Michael Günther and Gustl Lütjens eventually decided not to give up and so, during the autumn and winter of that very year, joined by some new musicians from their scene, they would give it a try in the recording studio. Thanks to Manfred Opitz and Gustl Lütjens, the outcome was a set of rather jazzy tracks which were, however, rejected by Vertigo as being 'unsaleable'. On 'The other sides' these tracks can be heard for the first time, supplemented by extracts from their political-rock radio play 'Störenfried' ('trouble-maker'), it too from 1974. Those are rather unusual sounds for a band like Agitation Free, some of the tracks even featuring vocals. After that disappointment the band eventually broke up. With 36-page booklet." - label description.

Agog
"Dust is Their Food and Clay Their Meat"
LP
$15.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 5
Starting his music career in the early 1980s in the collective Points of Friction alongside Joseph Hammer and being on the fringes of the L.A.F.M.S. group, Damian Bisciglia has gone on to create a body of work only available on cassette and generally only heard among the cassette culture. His work is amazingly developed though, finding a style incorporating collage, improvisation, and diverse number of unique sources including contact mic as instrument unto itself, multitracked loops, shells, balloons, metal heater, springs, matchbox car, and many others. In addition to this, he has in recent years begun to create 'creatures' built from various found materials. A very talented artist whose work has long impressed me and whom I am glad to finally help bring out a more widely available release. "This LP is strictly an analog affair and is 96% free of conventional musical instruments and electronic effects. The sound sources (instruments?) are primarily acoustic and would include: metal eraser shield played with human breath, cardboard speaker cone bowed with a coat hanger, blow-dryer heating element, hard plastic combs, a broken TV set (unplugged), sea shells etc. These objects are amplified using a variety of contact microphones. All pieces are built upon a 4-track reel to reel with the exception of the final track, which is a real time improvisation using a wooden laundry hamper still encased in it's plastic shrink-wrap." - Damian Bisciglia.

Christian Alati, Giuseppe Ielasi & Ruggero Radaele
CD
$14.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-14
"This new project from Giuseppe Ielasi (from the Italian label Fringes) gathers two guitarists and one percussionist. The two prepared guitars are used as a sound generator for electronic devices with, on top of these, subtle (mostly) metallic percussion. From quite and minimal ambiance to more strong and electric pieces, this record is a very good example of this new school of improvised music influenced by electroacoustic techniques." - label description. comes in Digipak.

Oren Ambarchi & Martin Ng
"Reconnaissance"
CD
$16.00
Staubgold (Germany)
staubgold 15
"Reconnaissance is the first duo release by Australian composers Oren Ambarchi and Martin Ng from Sydney - a trilogy of pieces based upon the fluid architectural modulation of harmonics and resonances. Recalling the landmark experiments of the Sonic Arts Union (Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma), Ambarchi and Ng create an enigmatic tapestry of pulsing, shimmering and shifting sound which represents a subtle and compelling realignment of Eastern and Western minimalist traditions." - label description.

AMM
"at The Roundhouse"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
ICES 01
The first release from the ICES concerts from August of 1972 in London. The International Carnival of Experimental Sound, or ICES '72 for short, was an ambitious festival sprung from the mind of Harvey "Job" Matusow (1926-2002). Jumping off from his associations with Source magazine, Harvey brought together over 300 artists from over 21 countries to perform in London, England over the course of two weeks in August of 1972. Based on the theme of Myth, Magic Madness and Mysticism, he assembled an amazing diversity of performers working in diverse range of audio-visual arts. Encompassing happenings, films, dance, a train ride, and the phantom soft pool table, the focus was on sound - specifically that of artists who were both composers and performers. Most of the concerts were held at The Roundhouse, a cavernous structure that was formerly a railroad engine house, and recorded by John Lifton and his assistants. Now, for the first time in 30 years, these recordings can be heard. AMM was formed in 1965 by Lou Gare, Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, and Lawrence Sheaff. The line-up swelled to also include Cornelius Cardew and Christopher Hobbs, and sometimes composer Christian Wolff. From 1971 up until 1976, AMM found itself stripped down to the duo of Prevost and Gare. After that time, Rowe replaced Gare, and Eddie and Keith have continued making AMMusic ever since, mostly with the help of John Tilbury, and occasionally others, and are still a powerful force. The aesthetic of AMM is that of improvised music freed from the constraints of musical style. Their sound is ever evolving and free from the ego of individual players. "Music from half a lifetime ago - that was a very good creative time musically and maybe a new generation will appreciate what we were doing then and still are doing now. Playing with Eddie in that format, just the two of us, was my most rewarding musical experience after the break up of the AMM quartet. When Eddie and Keith tried to get it together again with the four of us I could not go back to that after the freedom of the duo." - Lou Gare.

Angel Provocateur
"Stars Below"
CD
$10.00
Ventricle (U.S.)
VENT-11
second album by trio of Vanessa Harvey (the ethereal French vocalist), Dusty Lee (of Mauve Sideshow fame) and Kelly Thistle (of a variety of other Ventricle acts like Minus Infinity). part of the 'silver series' on this label, it sports a beautiful foil cover with black print and is just as mysterious and spacey as the other two in the series (Torn Curtain and Minus Infinity). those who spend time hunting down the bygone oddities of years past, such as on the famed NWW list, would be wise not to let these recent CDs go by unnoticed.

animist orchestra
"wuwei"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM14
studio recording of Jeph Jerman's small sound orchestra with Dave Knott, Mike Shannon, Jeffery Taylor, Robert Millis and Marina Granger. "in seattle in 1996, i began giving performances using mainly natural objects as my 'instruments'. after many such performances, two friends suggested (independently of one another), that i might try doing it with a group. as this idea had occurred to me a few years previously, i thought perhaps they were right. in june of 1999, the animist orchestra began its history as a working group. we got together nearly every week for the next three months, to play and discuss our playing. our first performance was given in eric lanzillotta's living room for a small group of friends, and was well received. from the beginning, the focus of the orchestra has been on listening, and improvising in the moment. a group of people truly playing together and focusing intently on the present can be a powerful thing. the use of natural objects (stones, shells, pine cones etc.) as opposed to more conventional musical instruments, can help the players to not fall back on learned habits of musical play. there is no canon or book of rules to refer to when using everyday things as sound makers, and this may facilitate the removal of actions arising from taste and memory. during the initial period of discovery for the orchestra, dave knott made the observation that, when when playing and focusing on the sound being made, it was 'like the spirit of the thing is telling you ho it wants to move'. mike shannon once told me that when i play i seem to be animating the objects with my hands. i think these comments explain the name of the orchestra better than i could. i wanted to make a CD of the orchestra to document our work together, and to show my admiration and gratitude for the friends who have agreed to join. i don't think they knew what they were getting into." - jeph jerman.

Aube
"Millennium - Aprilis"
CD
$14.00
Armonika (Italy)
KA200004
the fourth installment in 12 CD series for the year 2000. there is one CD for each month of the year and one track for each day of the month. this is the April installment and uses only the sounds of fire as source material. limited edition of 500 copies. "A musical project that will catch your mind and soul for one year's time: Aube, a well-known genius of the international scene, will offer you one of the great events of 2000; he will dedicate to the first year of the new millennium a monumental sonic opera in twelve chapters. Every month of the new year will offer you a taste of Aube's artistic talent; a seducing mixture of obscure influences and experimental excursions, from noisy structures to ambient landscapes. From January to December, along the four seasons, from a solstice to an equinox, Aube will lead you in a pleasant one year period journey from the dawn of first day to the twilight of the last one, with the ideal soundtrack for the beginning of a new era." - label description.

Aube
"Millennium - Iunius"
CD
$14.00
Armonika (Italy)
KA200006
the sixth installment in 12 CD series for the year 2000. there is one CD for each month of the year and one track for each day of the month. this is the June installment and uses only the sounds of fire as source material. limited edition of 500 copies. "A musical project that will catch your mind and soul for one year's time: Aube, a well-known genius of the international scene, will offer you one of the great events of 2000; he will dedicate to the first year of the new millennium a monumental sonic opera in twelve chapters. Every month of the new year will offer you a taste of Aube's artistic talent; a seducing mixture of obscure influences and experimental excursions, from noisy structures to ambient landscapes. From January to December, along the four seasons, from a solstice to an equinox, Aube will lead you in a pleasant one year period journey from the dawn of first day to the twilight of the last one, with the ideal soundtrack for the beginning of a new era." - label description.

Aube
"Millennium - Maius"
CD
$14.00
Armonika (Italy)
KA200005
the fifth installment in 12 CD series for the year 2000. there is one CD for each month of the year and one track for each day of the month. this is the May installment and uses only the sounds of fire as source material. limited edition of 500 copies. "A musical project that will catch your mind and soul for one year's time: Aube, a well-known genius of the international scene, will offer you one of the great events of 2000; he will dedicate to the first year of the new millennium a monumental sonic opera in twelve chapters. Every month of the new year will offer you a taste of Aube's artistic talent; a seducing mixture of obscure influences and experimental excursions, from noisy structures to ambient landscapes. From January to December, along the four seasons, from a solstice to an equinox, Aube will lead you in a pleasant one year period journey from the dawn of first day to the twilight of the last one, with the ideal soundtrack for the beginning of a new era." - label description.

Aube
"Millennium - Martius"
CD
$14.00
Armonika (Italy)
KA200003
the third installment in 12 CD series for the year 2000. there is one CD for each month of the year and one track for each day of the month. this is the March installment and uses only the sounds of water as source material. limited edition of 500 copies. "A musical project that will catch your mind and soul for one year's time: Aube, a well-known genius of the international scene, will offer you one of the great events of 2000; he will dedicate to the first year of the new millennium a monumental sonic opera in twelve chapters. Every month of the new year will offer you a taste of Aube's artistic talent; a seducing mixture of obscure influences and experimental excursions, from noisy structures to ambient landscapes. From January to December, along the four seasons, from a solstice to an equinox, Aube will lead you in a pleasant one year period journey from the dawn of first day to the twilight of the last one, with the ideal soundtrack for the beginning of a new era." - label description.

Derek Bailey & Steve Lacy
"Outcome"
CD
$13.00
Potlatch (France)
P 299
Recorded Live on June 25th, 1983 at 28, rue Dunois, Paris (France)by Jean-Marc Foussat. "Lacy is a compulsively analytical melodicist, extracting all he can from a line before moving on to the next musical kernel. The saxophonist obsesses over his phrases, reworking, reshaping and re-conceptualizing his angle until there is simply nothing left. Bailey, on the other hand, is a wily improviser who seems to operate under the premise that the most logical path is the one to leave out. His convoluted arpeggios and humming volume pedal swells focus more on pitch and context than they do a conventionally understood meter or melody." - Jon C. Morgan.

Derek Bailey, Pat Thomas & Steve Noble
"And"
CD
$14.00
Rectangle (France)
REC-S2
re-issue of the lp released in 98 on rectangle. very nice meeting of improvised guitar, keyboards, and turntables.

Michel Banabila, Hannes Vennik & Bobby
"Cards On The Table"
3" CD
$8.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 153
"Whatever can be shuffled, will be shuffled. That must the philosophy behind this 3" CD. For the creation of this rather bizarre conceptual work, the trio uses a deck of playing cards to decide when and how the sampled contributions will be combined. The entire work is based on samples of a wide range of styles including jazz, old avant-garde classic, musique concrete, kitsch, dot matrix printer-symphonies and ethno-electronics just to name a few of the expressions that awaits the listener. The overall surface has an exciting film noir-atmosphere based on slow groovy jazz melted into the shuffled sample-inferno. Divided into 28 tracks, the 18 minutes long work is fragmented into small pieces. Unnecessary to say: Random play for optimum shuffle!" - Niels Mark Pedersen, Vital Weekly 272.

Bark!
"Swing"
CD
$14.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD41
electroacoustic improv with Rex Casswell (ex-Stock, Hausen & Walkman) on electric guitar, Phillip Marks on percussion and Paul Obermayer (also in Furt) on electronics. "On this album Bark! have boiled down and condensed the astonishing range of sounds available to them into something basic, forceful, coherent and accessible. To me the music appears as a kind of conversational game, built of molecules and fragments, dots and dashes, calls and responses, moves and counter-moves. Out of this game, narrative, line and structure develop really distinct structural shapes growing in time. It's not clear to me how this little miracle takes place but I think you can hear it, especially in the development of longer tracks like 'Pavo', 'Grus' and 'Swing'. It is quite severe music, sometimes ugly and disturbing, but it's also always striving to be beautiful. At its best, when its shapes evolve patiently and inevitably into clear and tangible orders, vistas and architectures, the result is really quite magnificent." - Richard Scott

Clarence Barlow
"Musica Derivata"
CD
$16.99.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 126
"Though seeming to face the same existential wall as John Cage and other post-WWII composers, Clarence Barlow, like Beethoven and Ives before him, actually builds his own labyrinths, brick by brick, and then searches for an escape. To do so he devises various elaborate conceptual or mathematical guises to circumvent the traps of Time, tonality, and style." - Art Lange. first recordings by Josje ter Haar (violin), Job ter Haar (cello), and John Snijders (piano, Yamaha disklavier) of Ives Ensemble. edition of 3000. Digisleeve.

Françoise Barrière
"Par Temps Calme et Ensoleillé"
CD
$14.99.00
GMEB / Le Chant du Monde (France)
LDC 278 1089
"'Par Temps Calme et Ensoleillé I' [A Season of Sunshine and Tranquility I] (for piano and tape) (1983) - A suite made up of 4 shorts movements. Each movement highlights a different aspect of the title of this work: I wanted to evoke those rare moments of peace, clarity and rest that one experiences from time to time. A kind of meditation on the passing of time and on a space beyond time, this fleeting moment of abandon; a meditation about certain absences, those short happy infrequent bursts of emptiness of mind, a meditation also on the simple pleasure of being alive, out of which the final exultation. The sounds used are mainly electronic as well as a few concrete sounds to which are added pianistic flourishes, as a kind of complementary inlay to the general texture of sound. 'Par Temps Calme et Ensoleillé II' [A Season of Sunshine and Tranquility II] (for cello and tape) (1985/89) - This piece, a long Post Script and Coda, reworks the theme of the first 'A Season of Sunshine and Tranquility' using the same sound material, though organized differently and mixed with other sounds which are memories borrowed from my adolescence : sounds from nature and an evocation of music I loved and had played during this period, a time when the long summer days in the country were spent looking at the clouds floating by or at the river flowing through banks covered with poplars. It was thus during the course of these long summer days that I learned to notice the changes in the weather, and of sounds and images of a world that is constant and yet never still. This second version is reconstructed musically with light strokes, almost impressionist, of distant echoes in a memory reminiscent of emotions, passions and anguish that make up one's youth. From within this lush, musical texture sings out the almost 'human' resonance of the cello. 'Musique pour le Temps de Noël' [Yuletide Music] (for alto, cello, sax, percussion and tape) (1979) Commissioned by the French State. - It is often said that it is early childhood influences which mold the personalities of writers and poets and determine their artistic vocations. Does the same hold true for musicians as well? No doubt. From among the memories of a happy childhood, there are some which have marked the author in a special way - one of these being of Christmas spent each year in the mountains...of the softness of the countryside covered in snow, a feeling of emptiness, the wintery air, the warmth of her family and of the festivities in the village... Hazy impressions which have influenced the choice of sounds used and the creation of a musical space -vast, still and transparent, over which the voice of a child carries. 'Aujourd'hui' [Today] (1975) - I recall what I had to say about this piece when it was first performed at the 5th International Festival of Experimental Music of Bourges in 1975: 'The inspiration for this piece came from the crushing solitude that the individual experiences in the modern world, a solitude which is a result of the increasingly cruel conventionality of life and culture. The electroacoustic medium, I feel allows the composer to step out of 'his splendid isolation': and relink his art once again to the life and rhythm of one's time -expressing these as well as being critical of them'. At that time, I was more than ever convinced that music could progress only via electroacoustic means, which would influence musical trends of our century, as well as question and reexamine many of the dogmas in force at the time. I also perceived that electroacoustic means opened up a vast area calling for investigation, both on the level of the creation and modeling of sounds as well as the extension of musical criteria i.e. the still unexplored territories of timbre, space and time (speed). It was also an opening to a new form of musical poetry : one that allowed the insertion of everyday sounds into the musical texture; of juxtaposing or immersing these sounds into 'an exclusively musical context' giving rise to a series of coincidences, tensions, new combinations or association of ideas and impressions which allowed the listener to read into the music his very own world of imagination, sensitivity, and experiences." - from the liner notes

Françoise Barrière
"Dessus la mer / Equus / Scènes des voyages d'Ulysse"
CD
$14.99.00
IMEB / Mnémosyne Musique Media (France)
LDC 278 1111
three electroascoustic works dating '81-'97 inspired by the themes of the sea, the journey and the myths; the time and the movement; and the threatened and cultural patrimony. one piece is in fact based entirely on outdoor recordings of horse steps, often transformed beyond recognition. "Born 12th June 1944, Paris. Classical training: piano at the Conservatoire de Versailles; harmony and counterpoint at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Paris. Less classical training: Service de la Recherché, ORTF; ethnomusicology at the Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes. In 1970 she founded in collaboration with Christian Clozier, the Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Bourges which they co-direct. Founding Member of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music. Co-organizer with Christian Clozier of the Bourges international Festival of Experimental Music 'Synthèse'; of the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition; of International Symposiums 'Musical Inventions and Creation: a rejection of Utopia'. She directs the publication of the magazine 'Faire' (edition GMEB) a Musical Editions 'Mnémosyne Musique Media'. The latter commercializes the Gmebogosse 4 M and edit a series of CD's called 'Cultures Electroniques' of works by the laureates of the Bourges Competition (editions Chant du Monde). Her works have been played in numerous festivals, concerts and on the radio worldwide."

Martin Bartlett
"Burning Water"
CD
$10.99.00
Periplum (U.S.)
P 0020
a document of the mid-period of the late composer who studied under Tudor, Oliveros, and Pran Nath. live electronics and interactive computer programs with guests Peter Hannan (soprano saxophone), George Lewis (trombone), and Frances Marie Uitti (cello). compositions with improvisational interactive or responsive nature.

Franco Battiato
"Juke Box"
CD
$13.00
BMG Ricordi S.p.A. (Italy)
585582
the 7th volume in BMG's experimental series of Battiato LP reissues is this 1978 album originally issued on Orizzonte. the music here was composed as the soundtrack for the TV film "Brunelleschi" and finds him in classical mode with the help of luminaries Roberto Cacciapaglia (director), Guisto Pio (violin), Juri Camisasca (voice), Alide Maria Salvetta (soprano), and Antonio Ballista (piano). Pio was a frequent Battiato collaborator and released a stunning solo album entitled "Motore Immobile" on Cramps, which was produced by Battiato.

Franco Battiato
"L'Egitto Prima Delle Sabbie"
CD
$13.00
BMG Ricordi S.p.A. (Italy)
585572
the 8th and final volume in BMG's experimental series of Battiato LP reissues is this 1978 album originally issued on Orizzonte. like Battiato, this album was better known for progressive and electronic music. however, "L'Egitto prima delle sabbie" is a minimalist classic work. this should not be surprising considering the attention from progressives circles in Italy to avant-garde pianists and composers (Walter Marchetti, Juan Hidalgo, Paolo Castaldi) at that time. the two works here are very much in the minimal mode, though the title work gives as much attention to the long silences as to the short, rapid arpeggios on the piano. this piece is performed by long time Battiato collaborator Antonio Ballista. for the second piece, "Sud Afternoon", he is joined by Bruno Canino, a long time partner of Balliista's on recordings of Berio, Kagel, Cage, and Pousseur. here the duet double each other in a work that echoes some of the phase work of Steve Reich. however, unlike Reich, the work does not have a constant drive and instead offers a spacious, peaceful and melodic piece.

Franco Battiato
"M.elle Le Gladiator"
CD
$13.00
BMG Ricordi S.p.A. (Italy)
585532
the 5th volume in BMG's experimental series of Battiato LP reissues is this 1975 album originally issued on the highly collectable Bla Bla label. consisting of only three pieces, the first side was taken up by "Goûtez et Comparez" which places Battiato's analog synth and voice in the midst of a tape collage. towards the end, the piece is taken over by organ drone and it is organ which the two pieces of the second side are made from. this side marked the transition from Battiato's progressive electronics to a classical direction as would be heard in the following albums "Zâ", "Juke Box" and "L'Egitto Prima Delle Sabbie". the organ is massive in sound gently toying with the angelic and intense. among the collaborators Franco thanks in the liner notes is the underdocumented composer Paolo Castaldi, who released one LP on Cramps Records the same year as this album.

Franco Battiato
"Sulle Corde di Aries"
CD
$13.00
BMG Ricordi S.p.A. (Italy)
585552
the 3rd volume in BMG's experimental series of Battiato LP reissues is this 1973 album originally issued on the highly collectable Bla Bla label. here Franco performs on vocals, VCS 3 synthesizer, guitar, prepared piano and kalimba with assistance from Gianni Mocchetti (guitar, mandolin and voice), Gianfranco D'Adda (percussion), Jutta Nienhaus (soprano), Rossella Conz (soprano), Gianni Bedori (tenor saxophone), Jane Robertson (cello), Daniele Cavallanti (soprano saxophone) and Gaetano Galli (oboe). similar to his previous albums "Fetus" and "Pollution", he weaves together a tapestry of sound around his songs blending electronic sound and acoustic instruments into beautiful progressive suites with an experimentalist's attention to the rich timbre of interesting sounds.

François Bayle
"Fabulæ"
CD
$13.00
Magison / INA-GRM (France)
MGCB 0498
ephemeral electroacoustic blips and noises slowly increasing in speed and building up into rhythms and stronger sounds. vol. 4. new edition in digipack.

Laïd Béchikha & Le Ryctus Project
"Couleur Neutre"
CD
$14.00
Pink Records (France)
P 01
four foot tall, blind man from Nancy, France playing drums and singing, along with a few friends (Julien Bogenschutz, Mathieu Chamagne, Franck Collot, Stephan Hernandez, Thierry Madiot, Jean-Pascal Marmol, Arnaud Paquotte, Hervé Perrin, Sylvain Phialy, Dominique Répécaud, Yannick Yahiaoui). the sounds vary widely from improvised free for alls to electronically processed soundscapes. packaged in gatefold sleeve with Braille booklet.

Beequeen
"Gund"
CD
$15.00
Plinkity Plonk (Netherlands)
plink 011
"500 copies. A final dig in the vaults for the Beequeen, resulting in the following release: 'Gund' is now available as a CD on Beequeen's private Plinkity Plonk label and has two recordings for two vinyl projects. The first four pieces on the CD were recorded early 1998 for a 12" vinyl single on which these tracks were supposed to be cut at different speeds (16, 33, 45 and 78 RPM). Due to its complexity of pressing this record was never realized. The fifth and sixth track were originally intended to form a 10" album of a most unlikely meeting by Beequeen and MSBR, the well-known Japanese noise act. Based upon a mutual sound exchange, both Beequeen and MSBR worked independently on their pieces. The label that intended to release this, stopped while both bands were still recording. Beequeen finished their piece in 1998 and MSBR decided to do a new piece in 2001. All five Beequeen pieces are Beequeen 'old' style, recorded before their decision to alter their direction in music, but it's probably one of their most refined moments in this style. 'Gund' is released in a limited edition of 500 copies and comes in a gorgeous hand-printed sleeve by Knust, Nijmegen, designed by Meeuw." - label description.

M. Behrens
"Advanced Environment Control"
CD
$14.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC 952
ranging from naturalistic to highly artificial, abstract soundscapes.

M. Behrens
"Elapsed Time"
CD
$12.00
Intransitive Recordings (U.S.)
INT017
"The latest album by Marc Behrens is the end result of his attempt to understand his artistic choices in light of their possible subconscious meanings. Regarding the process that led up to this album, Behrens writes, 'I was reflecting on my own past, in which there was a period of occupying myself with plastic model airplanes out of fascination with the technology (as I understood it)... it occurred to me that electronic music has been very much linked with military technology, the latest of them being the computer. Many of our contemporary electronic tools are byproducts of military technology and, unfortunately, application. Still a bit unsure of about whether my early affection for military technology had different motivations, I saw a chance for sublimation in my musical work.' Beginning in 1996, Behrens sorted through his catalog of late 1980s and early 1990s four-track tapes and field recordings, and set to examine his older analogue sounds through his current computer-based compositional aesthetic. By keeping his previous interest in military technology in mind, he preserved a sense of remoteness and removed examination in the music. Sounds seem to come from a great distance, possibly reminiscent of pilots sitting alone in planes over enemy territory, or of lonely sailors aboard submarines far below the population they are defending. In light of recent events, Behrens' questioning of the implications of his own decision to appropriate instruments of possible military origin for his art is especially poignant. Marc Behrens has been active as a sound and installation artist since the mid 1980s. Currently based in Frankfurt, Germany, he has exhibited or performed throughout Europe and Japan, and has worked with artists such as Francisco López, bernhard günter, Atom Heart, and Nicklaus Heyduck." - label press release. edition of 500 copies.

M. Behrens
"Four Installations"
CD
$14.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC 992
"contains soundtracks of four different sound and mixed media installations made during 1998 and the beginning of 1999. the often very minimal sound events are actually capable of transporting the listener into the various spaces. locations in which his installations took place range from the cellar of the institute for new media in frankfurt, germany, full of computers, to a rural village in the mountain area at the border between italy and slovenia."

Marc Behrens
"Integração"
CD
$13.00
SIRR.ecords (Portugal)
sirr2004
"Integration is a composition that Marc Behrens has been performing live in several versions. It was composed in a process of integrating all experiences made throughout almost one year of performing the basic score. With every performance, new aspects were added to the whole piece. In all the performances there is a basic repertoire of sounds consisting of a nucleus of tree recordings made in a mountain forest close to the Italian/Slovenian border in 1998, which in the performance arrangement became broadened with more recent material. The tree recordings were made by shaking the trees, thus the patterns of the sounds were generated partly by the plants, partly by human intervention, and arranged later according to coincidences and inherent keys in the material. The CD version does neither contain any live recordings nor the original sound of the auxiliary speakers which were specifically made for the performances. For this version Marc Behrens used the tree recordings along with a few field recordings of urban infrastructure, made during the preparation of the composition Advanced Environmental Control and later, preserving the original intention of the first performance: integration of a naturalistic and a technicized conception of sound." - label description.

Olivier Benoît and Jean-Luc Guionnet
"&UN"
CD
$15.00
Vand'œuvre (France)
VDO0223
"Olivier Benoît is a guitarist. He is also the magic conductor of 'La Pieuvre', the great orchestra from Lille. Fellow of many improvisers (Philippe Deschepper, Laurent Hovenaers, Sophie Agnel) he develops an organic style based on exploration of electric guitar . This attitude met a particular echo in Jean-Luc Guionnet's saxophone (Shams, Hubbub...) with which he prepars a far-reaching work in 2003 ('Météo'). '&UN' their first recording is remarkable." - label description.

Johannes Bergmark & Unn Fahlstrøm
"Mouth-To-Mouth Method"
CD
$11.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1030
"Two people make mouth sounds with their mouths extremely close to each other and partly inside each other. The sounds of one are thus modulated by the other's oral cavity, teeth, lips and tongue, and sometimes by fingers that tear cheeks and neck, or nails that scratch against teeth. Thus sounds and situations are produced that could not be made by a soloist. The listener is placed between hungry, empassioned jaws and is kissed, licked, chewed, consumed, vomited and regurgitated. Surviving this you have been resurrected and can walk away an immortal, overcoming all dangers. These are the complete, uncensored sessions, recorded 1999-2000 at the Electro-Acoustic Music in Sweden (EMS) studios in Stockholm. The sequence is the original and the composition is improvised on location." - from the back cover.

Luciano Berio
"Laborintus 2"
CD
$6.00
musique d'abord (France)
HMA 195764
"From the strange to the marvelous... Composed on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the birth of Dante, Laborintus 2 illuminates the fabulous theatrical scene animated by the music of Berio, one of the great figures in contemporary music of the generation of Boulez and Stockhausen." performed by Ensemble Musique Vivante directed by Berio.

Luciano Berio
"Ricorrenze - Music for Winds"
CD
$16.00
Materiali Sonori (Italy)
MTS 90075
includes "Ricorrenze", "Sequenza VII", "Sequenza IX", and "Opus Number Zoo".

Jac Berrocal
"Parallèles"
CD
$16.00
Alga Marghen (Italy)
B 5TES.037
"Jacques Berrocal has been very active since the beginning of the 1970s. No one in France could mix jazz, improvisation, rock’n’roll, punk, no wave, spoken words and industrial music like him. He also had a central position in the creation of d’Avantage, a collective record label that issued some of the most particular sessions of the mid-late Seventies. At the same time he was working on never ending sessions for records that were never issued. Jac and his band were the Apostles of the non-urgency, enjoying recording in unusual situations, with no rules, improvising on undefined structures or using non-musical material mixed with ethnic instrumental solos. In 1976 d’Avantage issued a wonderful record LP titled 'Parallèles' featuring, among the others, Bernard Vitet, Roger Ferlet, Pierre Bastien, Michel Potage, Daniel Deshays, with the intervention of Vince Taylor, the dark diamond of rock’n’roll who inspired David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. Just a couple of years later Berrocal collaborated with Steven Stapleton to create the first Nurse with Would record LP. 'Parallèles' features very different styles; acoustic solo and duo for trombone and cornet as well as a large ensemble 25 minutes long piece dedicated to the futurist Russolo (again, two years later, Mr. Stapleton dedicated his first NWW record to the same Italian artist). Also to mention are 'Post-Card', recorded in a Pigsty in 1976, and the legendary 'Rock’n’roll Station', a mini-concert for voice (Vince Taylor), double bass (Roger Ferlet) and bicycle (Jac Berrocal). The remastered CD also includes five previously unreleased tracks that were actually left out of the original record: 'Villa Povera Naturale' (1972) is a short piece for pocket trumpet and various concrete elements; 'Occupè' by Michel Potage is an excerpt taken from an LP that d’Avantage never issued; 'Shorten' and 'Lisylis Pavillon' are the first experiments using electronics and 'Cryptea IV', taken from the sessions of the early Futura LP. Thirty years later Jacques Berrocal is still there, where nothing is waiting for him, totally outside the rules, out of fashion thus indémodable. A digipak CD edition including a folded insert with very nice original photos and scores." - label description.

Jacques Berrocal, Dominique Coster & Roger Ferlet
"Musiq Musik"
CD
$15.00
Fractal Records (France)
FRACTAL 017
"Musiq Musik is the first album of Jacques Berrocal. In 1970, he create the Musik Ensemble with the accordionist Claude Parle, the painter Michel Potage and Roger Ferlet. Recorded during two year between 1971 and 1972 as a trio (with Dominique Coster & Roger Ferlet), 'Musiq Musik' was released in 1973 by Futura Records on the legendary SON series (Raymond Boni, Bernard Vitet, Semool etc...). Insinuate by the spelling of the title, this album is a real fireworks of transgression of sounds, wonderfully represent by 4 tracks, composed by Jacques Berrocal, mixed by Jef Gilson, and played with a myriad of instruments (trumpet, bells, percussions, trombone, Pakistani horn, flute shénaï, Tibetan conch shell, double horn, horn of ramadan, cymbals, cornet, harmonium, vocal...) and some non-musical (whistles, balloon, ropes, explosives!). Beautiful sounds with oriental and experimental touch, it can be regards in a certain way as a fusion of The Master Musicians Of Jajouka and The Art Ensemble Of Chicago. Contemporary ethnic music or subversive jazz album? Anyway, more than ever, 'Musiq Musik' is Jacques Berrocal's trademark! Failing to get the original edition who change hands for big money, this masterpiece is now available on CD for the first time, reissue from the original master tapes and including the original vinyl cover." - label description.

Pierre Berthet & Frédéric Le Junter
CD
$14.00
Vand'œuvre (France)
VDO9407
a sort of split release though the duo seem to be collaborating on all the tracks. the first section is made up of songs; primitive and strangely idiosyncratic in a uniquely French way. the second portion is two longer drones, and quite contrasting from the energy of the first. very subdued and even drifting into silence a few times. the instruments used are those of the artist's own creation, and displayed in use throughout the booklet.

Andreas Berthling
"invalidObject Series (with)"
3" CD
$11.00
Fällt (Northern Ireland)
F.0014.0024
"The fifteen tracks included here were created exclusively for this project, but feature several elements that consist of earlier material, either re-made/mixed or used as layer(s) within a totally new context. All of the tracks are improvisations recorded directly to hard-disk then edited to fit in length. Track 04 With(er) consists of samples taken from Otomo Yoshihide's 'Digital Tranquilizer': DT-1 and DT-2. This release is limited to a worldwide edition of 250 copies." - label description.

Harry Bertoia
"Sound Sculptures"
video
$24.00
Bertoia Studio (U.S.)
0-9677388-3-0
"in the late 1960's, Designer and Sculptor Harry Bertoia and his son Val, made hundreds of sound sculptures. These sculptures represent Harry Bertoia's formation Sonambient®. Sonambient® was Bertoia's term to describe the spatial and tonal environment created by these sculptures. Harry Bertoia created these sculptures of different shapes, length and thickness in order to achieve a range of gentle and sharp sounds. He experimented as a way to seek harmonic balance with metal, resulting in pure, unique tones. When touched, struck or brushed, these sculptures become abstractions of sound as they sway and knock against one another. The sounds are organic and mysterious, as tones resonate and flow into each other. In this performance, recorded in Harry Bertoia's original Sonambient® barn, a sound gallery filled with gongs, suspended metal bars and rows of tall vertical metal rods, Val Bertoia illustrates the kinetic qualities of the Bertoia sound sculptures. Val Bertoia creates sculptural forms inspired by nature and continues the Bertoia tradition of sound sculptures." - from the back cover. running time 10 minutes. color cover. NTSC.

Antoine Beuger
"calme Ètendue (spinoza)"
CD
$15.00
Edition Wandelweiser Records (Germany)
EWR 0107
"The first step composer Antoine Beuger took, in his attempt to approach Spinoza's Ethics musically, was to copy out all the monosyllabic words of this book in the order of their appearance: a total of about 40,000 words.This method gave him the opportunity to read the text very attentively and carefully from beginning to end, and, without intending to understand each of its details, to experience its force, the plurality of 'streams' at work in it, and the clear and life-affirming attitude it conveys. In performing calme Ètendue (spinoza), the words are spoken in a very relaxed tempo (one word every 8 seconds) and with a very quiet voice. The performer should not - through emphasis or intonation - try and suggest a specific sense to the individual words or groups of words. Spoken sections alternate with sections of silence. In these silent sections, the performer just sits quietly, doing nothing: calm concentration. A complete performance of calme Ètendue (spinoza) lasts about 180 hours. In August, 1997, the composer carried out a complete performance of the work at the Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen: 26 consecutive days, 6 to 10 hours daily, according to the opening hours of the museum. The version on this CD has a duration of about 70 minutes and begins with a nine minute silence." - label description.

Agentur Bilwet / Brüsseler Platz 10a-Musik / Hajsch
"1000 Fehler (1000 Errors)"
CD
$12.00
supposé (Germany)
3-932513-13-4
"theory is not care, nor is it a substitute for forgotten services and ideologies." texts of Agentur Bilwet, Geert Lovink un Pit Schultz, and Adilkno as read by Geert Lovink, and set to the backdrop of music by Brüsseler Platz 10a-Musik [Georg Odijk, Marcus Schmickler and Jan St. Werner) and Hajsch (former member of PFN).

Biota
"Bellowing Room / Tinct"
CD
$13.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
RéRBCD2
"'Bell/Tinct' comprises 78 minutes of two complete (now deleted) LP's. An extraordinary, compact and somehow timeless unfolding of recognizable and unrecognizable sound, permanently mutating or being shattered or imbricated. " with 16 page booklet of visuals.

Biota
"Invisible Map"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR BCD5
"A long time coming this one, but as always, well worth the wait. Technically, this is the usual uncategorise-able mixture of primitive electronic, ethnic antique and conventional instruments, multilayered processing and meticulous construction. Aurally, vast, three dimensional sonic landscapes emerge in sharp Dalian detail, matched in the accompanying (generous) booklet with lapidary artworks from the visual component of the band."

Biota / Mnemonists
"Musique Actuelle 1990"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM25
Biota was founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, as the Mnemonist Orchestra. Over the years, the Mnemonist Orchestra developed into Biota (the musical contingent) and Mnemonists (the visual contingent). Both Biota and Mnemonists work as one on productions of musical and visual components. The group has released nine LPs, one EP, and four CDs in addition to several cassettes and compilation ventures, on both their own Dys label and Recommended Records UK. Heard on this CD is the first adaption of their studio-based recording techniques since 1981, as presented at Montreal Musiques Actuelles - New Music America 1990. For their live performance they composed a set of material specifically for the concert and virtually relocated their studio to the stage to properly recreate it. Nine musicians playing only acoustic instruments (aside from electric guitar) were heard natural and unamplified from the stage while extensive electronic processing, heard through the speakers, rendered radical tonal, timbral and temporal modification creating an incredibly unique and strange sound world. For the first release of this music, Biota have combined the best recordings from both the rehearsals and the concert itself. Added to this, the two-dimensional graphic work that Mnemonists have become so renowned for was transformed into stunning video projections - beautiful examples of which are now included in the full color booklet accompanying this CD.

John Bischoff
"The Glass Hand"
CD
$10.00
Artifact Recordings (U.S.)
ART 1014
rather intense computer music using granular sounds to build textures, some very noisy and some more quiet and textural.

Thomas Bjelkeborn
"Past Time"
CD
$11.00
elektron (Sweden)
EM 1003
"Six electroacoustic pieces recorded at EMS, Stockholm between 1986-96. In the words of Francóis Couture, 'Bjelkeborn is a plastician more than a storyteller. He molds sounds into architectural perspectives and large sculptural gestures, sticking for the most part to sounds obtained through synthesis. Except for a voice sample appearing at the beginning and end of 'Within Without', the source material (when it exists) has gone through enough transformation to irreversibly occult its nature. These pieces evoke the British and French schools of electro-acoustic music, from Jonty Harrison's 'Klang' to Francis Dhomont's 'Cycle de l'Errance'. Dense and rich in 'Within Without' and 'Mèlquíades,' the music becomes cold and highly academic in 'Do It Again' and 'Ex'.' Overall, very nice work from this Swedish composer who has until now only released (on CD) pieces in conjunction with other artists." - Monica.

Heimir Björgulfsson
"Machina Natura"
CD EP
$7.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 148
"Staalplaat is proud to present the tenth release in their 'material series', this one by Heimir Björgulfsson. Now what is the 'material series'? A series of CD's with microscopic, microwave, glitch, click or whatever it is called music. All CD's are packed in jewel cases with no printwork. All information is etched on the CD box itself. Inside special material is housed, like, in this case wallpaper. The CD itself is a so-called AB CD: a small ring with music, and the outside of the CD fully transparent. New solo CD by Heimir Björgulfsson, who makes up one third of the Icelandic trio Stilluppsteypa, with a special guest appearance by American sound artist John Hudak. Continuing where left off from his last year 'discreet journey digitalis' on Ritornell. 'machine natura(an interpretation inconsistent with the actuality of a situation)' contains two different worlds spinning into each other, the digitally generated sound and various natural field recordings, still sounding like neither. A somewhat man made mechanical phenomenon. 15 minutes." - label description.

Blessed Oblivion
CD
$10.00
Ventricle (U.S.)
VENT-14
a new installment in the silver series of psychedelic mellotron and sound collage mixed with ghostly female vocals. this new ensemble features Amanda Christina, Dusty Lee (formerly of Mauve Sideshow), and Dana Devereaux.

Jaap Blonk
"Flux de Bouche"
CD
$12.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 046
insane sound poetry. intense vocalizations. includes his renditions of pieces by Hugo Ball, Dick Higgins, Tristan Tzara and others.

Jaap Blonk
"Vocalor"
CD
$14.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 112
recordings of sound poems written by Velimir Khlebnikov, Vicente Huidobro, Guy de Cointet, Man Ray, Georges Aperghis and himself. emphasizing vocal textures. first 1000 with limited packaging.

Jaap Blonk, Fred Lonberg-Holm & Michael Zerang
"First Meetings"
CD
$16.00
Buzz (Netherlands)
BUZ 76002
sound poet, percussionist and cellist collide.

Eberhard Blum
"Berlin To Buffalo"
CD
$12.00
Electronic Music Foundation (U.S.)
EMF CD 041
"Flutist extraordinaire Eberhard Blum is best known for his performances of works by Morton Feldman and other members of the New York School. For four decades, he has been at the forefront of innovative musical performance. On this CD, Blum performs novel works by Erhard Grosskopf and Ralph Jones, scores that involve a special collaboration between performer and composer. The compositions are scored in unique ways: one is in the form of a mandala with twenty-four sound events positioned around a center silence. A player follows paths through the score. The second draws upon the mobile score technique of Earle Brown; the performer explores the pitches of a single chord, with either an ensemble of flutes or, as on this CD, solo flute with recycling tape delay. A third work, Grosskopf's 'Night Tracks', is a composition for electronic tape alone, based upon a series of recorded words that have been played back in loops at slightly different speeds, continually changing the timbre, rhythm and tempo." - label description.

Peer Bode, Joseph Scheer and Jessie Shefrin
"Real Time Shifts"
CD-ROM
$6.00
Institute for Electronic Arts (U.S.)
IEA0001
both Mac and PC compatible. works best on Mac G3 or better with QuickTime 2.1 or better.

Lars-Gunnar Bodin
"En Face"
CD
$12.00
Phono Suecia Records (Sweden)
PSCD 50
bizarre, mysterious and minimal electroacoustic sound creations.

Tore Honoré Böe
"Siesta"
CD
$12.00
Jazzassin Records (Norway)
JAZZ016
"the solo debut of Tore Honoré Böe is a beautiful, relaxed but intelligent album in the lowercase electronics/ electroacoustic ambient area. those who know his work in various Origami Republika installations are in for a surprise, although those of us who has kept a close eye on the latest KA work knew this was coming" - l.m. composer's note: location recordings from africa cut and recut into five pieces. the multifacetted soundscape we usually refer to as silence. breath. the hum of water pipes. walking my daughter. a modulated sandstorm from Sahara. traffic chaos in dialogue with free birds. crisp gentle sounds of mint tea. floating electric pulses. mastered at minimum volume to avoid any references to 'noise'. absolutely no effects added. pure stereo manipulation and frame/sec cutting. music that only refers to itself or holiday audiopolaroids?

Adam Bohman
"Music and words"
CD
$14.00
Paradigm Discs (England)
PD 09
Bohman's personal approach to music has essentially always been acoustic, but due to his close involvement with live electronics (he is a founder member of Morphogenesis), his sounds have very often been subjected to signal processing. On this recording all the music (except for one piece that uses slowed down and backwards sounds), is made from the unprocessed sounds of a variety of small surface playing and percussive techniques. This is his second solo CD and covers the full variety of his work which has been slowly evolving since the mid eighties. In particular there is over 30 minutes of one of his many "talking tapes", previously only heard on audio letters to correspondents and previewed on the previous Paradigm Discs release "Variations" (PD 01). These tapes consist of on the spot cassette recordings of his observations, both humorous, mundane and personal, as well as the day to day activities of his life. The sounds of the environment, the sluggish recording mechanism and the use of the pause button give this piece an almost concrète, sound text feel. This piece dates from 1994. There are also 3 "pause pieces" dating from 1990, which are rapid collages of prerecorded sound material, also recorded on cassette recorders. This uses the same technique as heard on the Anton Bruhin CD on Alga Marghen. Finally there are 4 multitracked studio recordings, and one live concert recording. Crucial to all these pieces is the element of improvisation. Bohman has collaborated with a diverse cross section of improvisers, from Lol Coxhill to Joseph Hammer.

Patrick Bokanowski
"Courts Métrages"
video
$40.00
Re:Voir (France)
RV0003
a collection of beautiful experimental short films including "La Plage" (1991), "La Femme qui se Poudre" (1972), "Dèjeuner du Matin" (1974), and "Au bord du lac" (1993), all with music by Michéle Bokanowski (assisted by Jean Guérin, Eliane Radigue, Gérard Frémy and R Cahen on one of the earlier soundtracks). the later films play with deformations of every day scenes (from the beach, the park, racing horses, etc.) that at times assume the beautiful of early Surrealist painting. as lovely as they are, the real mind blowers here are the middle films from the early 1970s. combining live action, animation and direct manipulation of the film, Bokanowski and foreshadows the strange universes later called up by David Lynch and The Brothers Quay. "Yet it's very much like a new masterpiece that blazes its own trail without resembling anything else that has been seen before (although you could claim a vague family resemblance with Goya or German expressionism). But whatever one wants to analyze or not analyze in this film, it is a work which disturbs one deeply. The music is pitched high, as if synthesized from the whistling wind; it's the sound a flying saucer might make along with Tibetan trumpets and overheard bits and pieces of people talking in a language you don't understand. You wonder how everything you are looking at was fabricated. There are a few double exposures, or else 'real people' wearing grotesque Frankenstein-like masks or stockings over their faces. They are either filmed through a dirty glass or else they metamorphose into drawings (a character can be drawn or else volumes come into focus and assemble themselves into a weird and yet coherent form): as a result, the space the film is describing is being constantly scrambled; it's a film without any floor in it and, as a spectator, when you are watching it, even if you are comfortably seated, your own seat leaves the ground. One notices these briefly passing creatures (one of which is, yes, a woman powdering herself) slowly and deliberately undertaking acts you don't quite understand, but which are clearly of a ghastly nature (perhaps a murder?); one watches two 'real' characters suddenly change into ink spots while a bombardment of drawn or painted meteorites explodes on what might be the 'earth'; one looks at somebody pouring coffee into a full cup which then overflows into an endlessly dark and ink-like trail; at which point you say to yourself that what is going on here, in this black and upsetting film, has the logic of a nightmare." - Dominique Noguez (on "La Femme qui se Poudre"). 48 mins. NTSC.

Ross Bolleter
"Crow Country"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21021-2
"Australian Ross Bolleter's new disc features five compositions. Four of them are solo works: Unfinished Business for ruined piano; Under Rookwood for double bass; Labyrinth Tango for accordion; and Piano Dreaming for ruined Pianola. That Time (Simulplay II) is for a duo of prepared piano and double bass. During the drought that never ended at Nallan Sheep Station I confess to recording on the Ruined Piano at night. I'd hide in the freezing shed crouched under the piano waiting for Dave to turn off the TV, switch off the generator and go to bed. Straight after, I would drag up an oil drum, feel the broken teeth of the Pianola under my fingers, then play con bravura passione for the applause of millions of cicadas through the shivery shuddery graveyard shift."

BOP
"And So It All Ended"
CD
$12.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1009
duet of Thomas Bjelkeborn (modified midi-guitar and diverse midi gadgets, MAX programming) and Paul Pignon (clarinet, basset horn, bass clarinet, voice, midi wind controller). all tracks recorded live with instruments connected to a computer and various samplers with software in Opcode MAX specifically constructed for each composition.

Brad Bordine
"Same"
CD
$8.00
Vitalist Recordings (U.S.)
SAME01
"Same is the debut CD by Brad Bordine. The music is some time, and some space. The title revisits Luc Ferrari's Tautologos series, performing a minor renunciation of lexicality. This is not denying reference, but expanding symbol and symbolized to overlap." or as Monica put it: "Somber, exquisitely sparse and stark pieces from LA-based musician Brad Bordine. 5 tracks of haunting atmospheres, silence and sound keeping a perfect balance throughout. Especially notable is track 4 (entitled 'February'), a 13 minute piece which uses the piano as a minimal yet powerful focal point."

Dan Burke & Thomas Dimuzio
"Hz"
CD
$13.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-11
collaboration between Dimuzio and Burke of Illusion of Safety recorded live in San Francisco. improvised live electronic from two noise veterans.

Neil Campbell & Rob Hayler
"In Luck"
CDR
$9.00
Fencing Flatworm Recordings (U.K.)
ff021
"6 tracks, 34 minutes of electro-loopage, starting fairly minimal, then spilling over into glorious drunken forest swirl. Not so much a midway point between Campbell solo and Hayler's Midwich project, more another door opening into somewhere new."

Kim Cascone
"Residualism"
CD
$12.00
Ritornell (Germany)
RIT 19
"Kim Cascone has been working on a triptych of computer music for the past four years. The first two releases 'Blue Cube' and 'Cathode Flower' were investigations in building sounds directly with computer code. The final installation of the triptych, 'Residualism', takes this technique in a somewhat different direction: instead of embracing long flowing sounds, 'Residualism' contains smaller atomic pieces taken from the first two releases which were then recombined and layered by custom software designed in Max/MSP." - label description.

C.O. Caspar
"Thus Long Lights Light"
CD
$12.00
Kaon (France)
oc98
"Born in 1936 and living in Berlin and Sweden, he combines archaic tone patterns and modern technical equipment in his compositional work. His performances take their form though installation of sound objects in a given space, taking the specific architecture of the room into consideration. 'Sound is experienced as a synthesis of emotion and intuition, of mechanical and digital sound tools. The process to create an artwork is like to give birth to a child, fertilize the brain, work out ideas, realize the subject and finally manage the artifact - a process from irrationality to reality, less from knowledge to product.' Studio and live pieces: 'Anatomy of Melancholy' rec. June 1998 - studio recording - voice, poetry Shawn Caton; 'Great Is Theseus' remix of a bootleg rec. 1997, studio recording; 'Shot Talk' from a sound installation & solo act on Earshot festival, Newcastle, Great Britain, rec. 1990 live; 'Spacial Lust of Hearings' an optosonic installation of 5 blowers and thus 50 pipes, the tuning of the overall acoustic sound is in 50 variations of the upper frequencies, rec. Oct 1996 live, 'Pink Machinery' rec. June 1998, studio recording, voice & poetry Shawn Caton; 'Didge Blues' the sound source is a stiff hose 1 meter long, when blown, the aural impression resembles that of didgeridoo, studio recording, 'Fra Det Skjulte 4.3' from the hidden air rec from solo sound acts on/in an iron oil vessel filled in the bottom with water, sited at a Norwegian harbor, hidden in the rocks in a huge invisible cave and originating from the German occupation, rec. 1987, live." - label description. "Co Caspar might be one of those names you come across, but you never to seem to place right. Despite his age (born in 1936), he has released so far one CD (by Tesco) and now Kaon from France releases his second CD. I had the pleasure to see one of his concerts in 1990 in Newcastle (and of which a small portion is on this CD), and I remember a full stage of pipes and machines. Caspar in the middle doing his 'thing': rumbling with the machines, feedback singing/chanting and feeding sounds through pipes. Quite an impressive sound for one man. This CD is kinda like a retrospective. The oldest piece is from 1987 up until this year [1998]. Much of the work deals with voice manipulations, either fully treated (such as the live excerpt from 1990 or 'Spacial Lust Of Hearing'), or clearly spoken poetry by Shawn Caton. Some of these pieces have a religious undertone, like the processed gregorian choirs on 'Great Is Theseus' or 'Pink Machinary'. Caspar is at his best when he mixes his sound installations with live elements and electronica. This is on pieces as the aforementioned 'Spacial Lust Of Hearing' or 'Fra Det Skjulte' (which was recorded in a Norwegian cave/bunker). Overall this is a nice presentation of the work of someone who is sadly ignored too much until now." - Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly 153

Hervé Castellani
"Flamme"
CD
$14.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC 981
fifty-two minute minimal soundscape following on from his 3" on Metamkine. very low level movements from what would appear to be acoustic sources, perhaps a delicate action realized with matches over a long span of time. stretches of silence, small movements, an occasional drone of something off in the distance... packaged in a dark blue cover with silver print. recorded at GMVL studios.

Bo Cavefors
"Barnsliga memoarer / Valpen som ung man"
CD
$14.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1043
a rare recording of this radical Swedish publisher reading his work. quite infamous in Sweden for publishing works by Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, William Burroughs, Salvador Dali, Lautrémont, Bob Dylan, Umberto Eco, Leif Elggren, Michel Foucault, Che Guevara, Alfred Jarry, Kim Il Sung, Rosa Luxemburg, Man Ray, Karl Marx, Ulrike Meinhof, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Orwell, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ezra Pound, Bertrand Russel, Sigmund Freud and many others starting in 1959. "Bo Cavefors reading (in Swedish) his two autobiographical books 'Barnsliga memoarer' (1995) and 'Valpen som ung man' (1996). This recording was meant to be the soundtrack for Bo Cavefors exhibition in Vita Kuben, NorrlandsOperan, Umeå, Sweden from November 9th, 2002, but this exhibition was unfortunately closed down and censored by the authorities in Umeå. Recorded by Hans T Sternudd in Malmö, Sweden on the September 16th, 2002. This CD includes a booklet in English with an essay by Leif Eriksson about Bo Cavefors and his times." - label description.

cd_slopper
"SaskieWoxi"
CD
$13.00
Or (England)
JODEL10
"cd_slopper is the file 'working-name' for the Computer Music unit of Oswald Berthold and Florian Hecker. Hecker and Ost first met in 1995/96 at the Mego office in Vienna. Both familiar with computers and DSP processes of both academic and autodidactic influences, they grabbed their first mobile computer when Apple released the first PowerPC laptop ever, the PowerBook 5300! On the first Mego tour [1997] it was their only weapon, maybe some CD's and 12" included. From 1996 - 2000 Berthold and Hecker worked hard on their albums for Mego and OR. Ost is a founding member of the Farmers Manual group who released such Desktop Music milestones as 'No Backup' and 'FM' on Mego, and 'FSCK' and 'explores_we' on OR. Hecker has released new age computer music solo albums on Mego '[IT iso 161975]' and '[[OT] xackpy breakpoint:]' on OR. He also curated/compiled a remix CD of his own work for MEGO, '[R*] ISO|CHALL]', featuring remixes by: Jim O'Rourke, Bruce Gilbert, Yasunao Tone, GESCOM, Zbigniew Karkowski, Holger Hiller, Francisco López, Marcus Schmickler, Otomo Yoshihide, Ilpo Väisänen and Lithops. Finding spare time between their tour schedules, they either met in each other's studio, working on different computer platforms as SGI/UNIX, LINUX and Mac OS to produce this release. 'SaskieWoxi' is cd_slopper's first multimedia release. This CD+ contains 44 audio tracks plus static as well as dynamic HTML/text/pics/Java executables. The results as you will experience are different & superior to the infantile bandwagon-jumping-rhizomesque-abstract-modulated-glitchy-parody-shitty-plug-in music. Just have a listen! 'SaskieWoxi' is Computer Rave Music. Full of energy, fine rhythms that fit in everyone's DJ set, high quality midrange sound that you can hear on your Walkman, MP3 player or in-car HI-FI anytime. A work that reflects the world and the way we experience it!" - label description. actually, the rhythms here are pretty fractured and this heavily experimental computer music - the realms that the old school should have really taken things to in reaching for the next level. the accompanying CD-ROM portion includes some great texts files and images which are essentially computer generated concrete poetry.

Richard Chartier
"Other Materials"
CD
$12.00
3particles (U.S.)
3particles02
twelve tracks from 1997-2001 including 7 previously released works culled from international compilations and 6 previously unreleased works. "8 tools formed/recorded in 1999 / a collection of eight short works originally published as '8a', 'chlorine[re]', 'err','pin', 'plic[re]','pop[re]', and 'tonecollage' on the 7' vinyl compilation Tool [Microwave, The Netherlands] in 1999 / assembled into a continuous track specifically for this release / separate units were created specifically for a lock groove vinyl format / stat(ist)ic formed/recorded in 06/99 / previously unreleased / exhibited at the Grand Central Arts Gallery, Santa Ana, California in 1999 as part of the series 'Static' / based on site recordings of the gallery space by Steve Roden / the works in the exhibit were transmitted via radio signal within a small radius in and around the building / 3particles formed/ recorded 08/99 / originally appeared on the lowercase compilation [Bremsstrahlung, US] in 2000 / influential in the creation of CD Series [LINE, US] / spec.sketch7 formed/recorded 09/99 / previously unreleased / created prior to the initial studio sessions for the collaborative project spec. [12k, US] with taylor deupree / untitled formed/recorded in 01/00 / originally appeared on the 12k1008 compilation [12k, US] in 2000 / herein, then formed/recorded in 04/00 / finally appeared on the Circle0 compilation [Fylkingen, Sweden] in 2002 / activité formed/ recorded 06/00 / previously unreleased / commissioned for a compilation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity album / sent formed/recorded in 2000 / originally appeared on the Variious compilaton [Intransitive Recordings, US] in 2000 / originally to be included on the CD Series / text formed/recorded in 2000 / previously unreleased / began as the basis for an EP and then intended for compilation use / Elements from this piece were later reprocessed and used in other works / untitled60sec formed/recorded in 2000 / originally appeared on the Computer Music Journal compilation CD [Volume 24, MIT Press, US] in 2001 to accompany the article 'The Aesthetics of Failure: 'Post-Digital' Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music' by Kim Cascone / 010101 formed in 12/00 & recorded on 01/01/01 / originally appeared on the Between Two Points compilation [12k/LINE, US] in 2001 / Elements of this work later formed the basis for the central part of the piece 'Of Surfaces' / Filer was formed/ recorded in 01/01 originally appeared on the Clicks & Cuts 2 compilation [Mille Plateaux, Germany] in 2001 / THE rhythmic structure is derived from a segment from the track '(.)#1' from Post-fabricated [Microwave, The Netherlands] / silver Formed/recorded in 09/01-11/01 / originally created for a private edition 3' CDR [3particles01] / utilizes elements from '1eme Gymnopedie' by Erik Satie"

Thanasis Chondros & Alexandra Katsiani
"0+"
CD
$15.00
Edo (Greece)
E-03
"Former founding member of the experimental group Dimosioypalliliko Retire, Thanasis Chondros was born in Thessaloniki in 1953 and Alexandra Katsiani was born in Siatista in 1954. After meeting in 1973, they have been coordinating their 'behaviors' since 1974. By limiting their biographic note in the word 'behavior', they extend the perspective of their work which already embraces daily life. To this direction, they illustrated in 1988 'Gestures' - a month with various temporary art performances/exhibitions scattered throughout Thessaloniki. The recordings contained in this CD come from an act-in-developement, a route in time, with the title '51 Saturdays' (using paintings, designs, pictures, installations, action, sound, etc.) and the selection of the pieces and their duration was a difficult matter since they were part of the total project. Minimal piano-forms, vocalistic styles referring to Meredith Monk's works, and the final piece for solo accordion, in an abstract melodic form, interrupted by dadaistic dialogues and daily sounds." - label description. hand numbered edition of 830 copies.

Jani Christou
CD
$15.00
Edition RZ (Germany)
Ed. RZ 1013
an excellent collection of the maverick Greek composer who was killed in a car accident while still in his prime. includes "Enantiodromia" (1965-68) for orchestra (with amplified piano and percussion); "Praxis" (1966-69) for string orchestra and piano; "Epicycle" (1968) for instruments, actors and voices (continuum and events) - tape version; "Anaparastasis III 'The Pianist'" (1968-69) for soloist, ensemble and continuum (tapes); "Mysterion" (1965-66) for narrator, actors, 3 choirs, orchestra and tapes; "Anaparastasis I"; and "Praxis for 12" (for 11 strings and one pianist - 1967 recording). modern classical music including multi-media works utilizing chaos and structure, these works are from near the end of his career. very intense and powerful instrumental sounds and yelling voices. originally released on LP, this CD reissue adds the bonus tracks "Anaparastasis I" and "Praxis for 12". performers include Theodore Antoniou, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jani Christou, Ensemble "musik unserer zeit", Piero Guarino, Oakland Symphony Orchestra, Jaroslav Opela, Orchestra da Camera dell'Accademia, Georges Pludermacher, Rundfunkorchester Hannover des NDR, Spyros Sakkas, Gerhard Samuel, Grigoris Semitekolo, Sinnhofer-Quartett, and Michel Tabachnik. highly recommended!

The Circle Trio
"Live at the Meridian"
CD
$12.00
Sparkling Beatnik Records (U.S.)
SBR0024
"The Circle Trio is a collective of three powerful women: Pauline Oliveros, one of the most important and influential figures in contemporary music; India Cooke, whose brilliant violin playing has graced numerous bands from Sun Ra's to Sinatra's; and Karolyn van Putten with her beautiful voice and frame drum playing deeply influenced from many years of studying drumming and healing music traditions." - from the liner notes.

Jonathan Coleclough
"Period"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 4 CD
An unlimited reissue of the out of print Anomalous Records LP (released last year in an edition of 530 copies only) with new cover artwork. This reissue sees the original A side extended from the original length of 17 minutes to the new length of 50 minutes. It still includes Colin Potter's 17 minute remix "Periodic" which was featured on the B side of the LP. "Period" is beautiful piece based entirely on sounds from a Bluthner grand piano, looped and extended into long, drifting, calm drones with occasional punctuation of recognizable notes slowly resonating. The piece becomes "Periodic" at the hands of Colin Potter, whose remix turns it into a more dark and haunting experience which reveals even less of the characteristics of a piano than the original. Two complimenting, yet also contrasting, views of the same material which both show a great deal of depth and cohesion. All wrapped in a full color cover designed by Jonathan and featuring his photographs. "Like many of my pieces of music, the finished version of 'Period' is very different from the idea in my mind which I started out with. The idea acts as a seed and the piece grows, often in unexpected ways, from that seed. So I was extremely pleased when I heard Colin's remix of the piece, because he had transformed the piece into something much more like my initial idea. He had returned the piece full circle." - Jonathan.

Jonathan Coleclough and Tim Hill
"Beech for John and Miho"
CD
$12.00
Seal Pool (Japan)
Spool01
"'Beech for John and Miho' was originally commissioned as a short piece for 'in return', a private wedding CD, where it appeared alongside music by Joe Weismann (The Jaztronauts), If Thousands, JLIAT, and Space Machine. That fifteen minute version then blossomed into this bold, 74-minute work. An invitation to the wedding spawned a short Japan tour during which Coleclough performed solo and in duos with Aube, Kuwayama Kiyohara, and Narita Mamoru. A limited edition of 150 CD-Rs of 'Beech for John and Miho' were made specially for the trip to Japan, and the piece is now released on CD by Seal Pool. 'An epic piece: shimmering and metallic.' -J. Podeszwa. Edition of 500."

Comae
CD
$16.00
Rhiz (Austria)
RHIZ009
"Formed in 1999, Comae [pronounced Co-my and meaning the cloud of specular dust surrounding the nucleus of a comet] is an on going collaboration between Robert Hampson and Janek Schaefer, resulting from a shared interest in sound/music and architectural space/place. Comae's hugely atmospheric work explores sound improvisation woven with abstracted elemental sound sources and vinyl deconstruction. Utilizing electroacoustic and concrete composition, the primary function of the group is to construct and inhabit exploratory and exquisite sound environments with or within unconventional context. Taking their inspiration from science, deterioration and chance without a preset in sight their work is focused on stripping away and replacing the present. Robert Hampson is the founding member of both Main [1990-present] and the guitar band Loop [1984-1989]. Using acousmatic and electro-acousitc treatments bound with organic/elemental source material his sound design projects have focused on the inner realms of undiscovered places, be they real or imaginary. Comae is a natural extension of his solo project. Janek Schaefer trained as an architect at the Royal College of Art, focusing on the relationship between sound and place. Since then he has become best known for exploring an imaginative approach to sound production and retrieval most notably with the invention of his Tri-phonic and Twin turntables and his exploration of experimental vinyl cutting techniques. He was selected as 'Sound Designer of the Year' by Creative Review magazine [England] in 1999, and awarded an 'Honorary Mention' at the ARS Electronica festival [Austria] in 2001." - label description.

Comma
"(voices)"
CD
$11.00
Metatron Press (U.S.)
MPCD101
the vocal trio of Joseph Zitt, Thomas Bickley, and Matthew Ross Davis performing original compositions plus "Approaches and Departures" by Pauline Oliveros and "Song Books" by John Cage. serious music with a sense of humor.

Crawling With Tarts
"I Am Telephoning A Star"
CD
$12.00
ASP (U.S.)
ASP 31
"Contains 15 tracks ranging from a few seconds to several minutes in length. There are a variety of different types of pieces: percussion, turntable, electronic, text-based, motor-and-styrofoam, and others, all of an 'experimental', or grainy, nature. In some ways it represents a condensation and simplification of several styles used in our previous recordings. Edition 967." - Michael Gendreau.

Crawling With Tarts
"Sarajevo Center Metal Doors"
CD
$12.00
Realization (U.S.)
RZD-019
"The three compositions on this CD, though quite dissimilar in sound and form, are united in the pursuit of musicality with non-instruments (and in one case, extended use of traditional instruments). 1-8 Ideomotors (19:52) is arranged in strict form for 24 found objects, each used to produce one tiny (but distinct) noise. Formally, Motors (9:13) is derived in performance using a deck of cards. The sound sources are small AC motors, the shafts of which are turned against various metals and taught strings. And finally, Sarajevo Center Metal Doors (36:58) is written for a quartet of non-specific instrumentation. A particular sense of background/foreground is explored, (mis)using violin, bass trombone, and lots of uncommon percussion instruments." - Michael Gendreau

Cremaster
"23 November 2002"
3" CD
$9.00
sound 323 (England)
sound 323 [3]
third disc in the series of live in store recordings from Sound 323 (the first two were by Derek Bailey / Simon Fell and Keith Rowe, and the next will be Sakada [Mattin & Eddie Prevost] and Akio Suzuki & David Toop). "Both Alfredo Costa Monteiro [objects on electric guitar] and Ferran Fages [feedback mixing board] come from the Barcelona improvisation scene and are active members of the collective IBA. The common interest expressed by the two musicians to research noise, made possible a collaboration between the two. At that point, the work on each instrument was progressively being more focused on the source of sound production, therefore rejecting, more than adding, other sound possibilities. In this context, the result is a balance between noise (understood as an addition of information) and the intention of extracting from this addition unities of information in order to be able to work on them together. Their approximation to sound is direct, almost physical, avoiding formal resources quite common in electronic music, such as effects, loops or pre-recorded material. In this way, the formal investigations that each of the musicians have developed on his instrument, creating possibilities where sound sources become unrecognizable, is what defines the global sound of the duo." - label description.

Current 93
"Alpha and Omega"
badge
$7.00
Durtro (U.K.)
C93-AO
bronze metal badge with purple and red enamel print of alpha and omega characters and smiley face. made for sale at the Current 93 shows at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco on May 9th and 10th, 2003.

Peter Cusack & Nicolas Collins
"A Host, of Golden Daffodils"
CD
$11.00
Plate Lunch (Germany)
PL 07
"On this live recording from 1996, performed at the STEIM, Amsterdam and the 'Museum für Gegenwart', Berlin, Englishman Peter Cusack, best known for his electro/acoustic works and his improvisational music, has teamed up with the American composer/musician Nicolas Collins. Peter Cusack, who uses guitar, bouzouki, samplers and electronics on this CD, has worked with artists as various as Evan Parker, Jon Rose, Chris Cutler, David Toop and Max Eastley. Nicolas Collins studied with Alvin Lucier and worked with long-time John Cage assistant David Tudor for many years. Collins is a pioneer in the use of manipulated CD-players, long before Oval and others did this. 'A Host, of Golden Daffodils' is an exciting meeting of two musicians, who create a gorgeous world of sounds using acoustic string instruments next to digital samples, manipulations and noises. These works are beyond technical speculation because they do not give the listener a moment to wonder or become concerned with process. They are happening - and if you think about them you'll miss some grand detail that may never return." - label description.

Dachise
"Twin Braids"
CD
$15.00
Assemblage Point (Scotland)
ASP001CD
a 1999 reissue of the limited edition 1998 cassette by Paul D. Knowles, now working under the name The Digitariat. Dachise also had several releases on the Tochnit Aleph label. the six tracks are noisy loop based pieces. limited edition of 500 copies, sold out from the label.

Werner Dafeldecker & Boris D Hegenbart
"Eis 9"
CD
$14.00
Grob (Germany)
GROB.319
"Two years ago, the German pop music magazine Spex (a bit like Option in German) called the Viennese Werner Dafeldecker 'a Jim O'Rourke from the Alps.' The comparison strikes one as quite distorted but is based on a few things in common. Both represent an extended idea of improvisation that does not rest upon parameters like 'interaction', 'dynamics', or 'energy', but rather that appears airy, looser, more comprehensive: (sound in) space becomes more important, the occasion plays a bigger (more existential) role in the foreground. Indeed this occasion is not only another situation to improvise together, but rather an expression of a state that one should adjust his/her sensors completely anew. The influence of new music (the New York School and beyond) never seems apparent, but as it were, subcutaneously. Just like the improvisations of O'Rourke in the 90's, Dafeldecker's music is characterized by the logical but constantly surprising intervention that breaks the peaceful current of the music and continues it at the same time. Eis-9 [Ice Cream 9] is a summer record, no hermetic structures, no gloomy sounds, no wallowing in stagnation and hardening (= cold). Ice cream melts. Dafeldecker demonstrates here once more how he dissociates his strict instrumentalism (dealing with the instrument as essential sound material) from his original instrument, the contra bass, and transfers it to others: guitar, percussion, found objects, PowerBook. Just as gropingly as definite. Eis-9 is above all the product of an intensive cooperation with the Berlin/Viennese electronic musician Boris D. Hegenbart. Coming out of nowhere, he published the CD Hikuito in 1998, music developed in hand made paper that came to fragile melodies once peeling away its (apparent) influences (Carl Stone, Oval). The groping and the definite flowed into the Eis-9 cooperation. Improvised music as symbiosis, as something that does not only come into being in the instant, but rather that grows. Eis-9 also means 'ice cream' is not an unambiguous fixed construction, but one that dissolves in various forms, structures, and, well, states." - label description.

Laurent Dailleau
"Supersternal Notch"
CD
$12.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-43
"Supersternal Notch mixes a rehash of extracts from live solo performances and studio work. Mostly performed on theremin and analogue synth (including a cameo by guitarist Dominique Répécaud), the music is quiet but tense. Live electronics music between the works of some pioneers and modern digital music. Laurent Dailleau is a founding member of Triolid and Le Complexe de la Viande. He also performs regularly with Helmut Shäfer, Atau Tanaka, and occasionally guests on Etage 34’s concerts." - label description.

Moniek Darge & Godfried-Willem Raes
"Logos Works"
CD
$11.00
Experimental Intermedia (U.S.)
XI 117
alternating solo tracks by these two Belgian artists best known for their LPs on Igloo. the eight pieces composed between 1988 and 1994 vary in style and include computer generated minimalist compositions, pieces for soundscapes and percussion, and an organ solo. includes liner notes from Larry Wendt, Douglas Quin and Raes. "This latest recording comes as they look back upon 25 years of collaboration as the Logos Duo. More than a retrospective, we see them affirming a long artistic relationship and forging new horizons - together and on divergent musical paths. In this, their work is a metaphorical journey: an inward exploration of the elegance of algorithmic composition and a voyage out into distant soundscapes. This CD from Godfried-Willem Raes and Moniek Darge is both a literal and figurative journey; in sound and music we have the Yin–Yang energy that is the Logos Duo. Enjoy listening!" - Douglas Quin.

Rhodri Davies
"Trem"
CD
$16.00
Confront (England)
confront 11
"Rhodri Davies: harp, preperations - recorded London 2001. Trem documents the continuing development of Rhodri's uniquely innovative solo voice on the harp. The CD was recorded live during 2001 at All Angels, the series of London based concerts he co-ran with Mark Wastell. Rhodri's extended prepared harp techniques are rewriting the history of the instrument. Influenced by live electronics, music-concrete and electronica he explores noise, silence, texture and abstract sound on his acoustic instrument." - label description. gorgeous stuff.

Andrew Deutsch
"Electronic Garden"
CD
$14.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM20
"In his assessment of music, philosopher and mystic Rudolf Stiener attributes a major part of human perception to the experience of the ethereal body. The ethereal body is a form unknown to (so called) normal consciousness. It is obscured by worldly tasks and the experiences of everyday life. The ethereal body is only fully experienced during sleep, where it emerges slowly in stages over the course of the evening. Once awakened, the ethereal bodies primary experiences is of light and tone and of being engulfed by a shimmering delicate tonal atmosphere. When the 'worldly body' awakens the ethereal body returns again to obscurity, diminished by daily routine. However, when in our daily routine and if we give time to it, we come in contact with music, or certain kinds of images or art, the ethereal body is touched, awakened inside the worldly body. This is why we are sometimes moved to emotion by music or images. The ethereal body is awakened within us and experienced by our worldly body. Flowers open within us, a garden of experiences and emotion emerge and we can not help but yield to the needs of the ethereal body and its sensations. Stiener proposes that a well balanced person is one who experiences the worldly body and ethereal body at the same time on a daily basis. Listening to music and an involvement with art may be the only ways to establish this balance and unity, therefore, as suggested by Joseph Beuys we must expand the practice of art into every aspect of culture - especially daily routine. Electronic Garden is a series of sound works constructed using broken music boxes, ring modulators and frequency shifters, I call these electro-mechanical loops. My interest in these works first developed out of early experiments with analog and digital tape loops and later extended into music boxes. Music boxes are mechanical loops set into motion via spring compression and consequently have the character of winding down as they play. This compositional unfolding is most delightful as it destroys the often gebrauchsmusik quality of music box melodies. To further destroy this music of the home I explored the possibilities of working exclusively with broken music boxes as their melodic structures would be readymade destroyed. Further, they often squeaked, squabbled, and burped as they played. Additional deconstructions were performed with electronics. I have made hundreds of these little compositions and the practice of making them occupies the greatest degree of my free time. Electronic Garden contains a special contribution by Sawako Kato of Japan. Exchanging files via mail and conversing through e-mail, Sawako reconstructed parts of Electronic Garden resulting in 2 new tracks which Deutsch later combined for release on Electronic Garden. the cover images for this CD were inspired by the notebooks and 'field drawings' of book artist John Wood. Each CD of this edition contains a hand made watercolor accented with gold leaf and his hand signed along with a photographic fragment verso." - Andrew Deutsch.

Andrew Deutsch
"Lung Cleaner"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM24
"I created Lung Cleaner for Eric Lanzillotta when he was sick with a serious lung infection which lasted for months. I hoped to help him recover by imagining a 'sonic cure', an 'art pill'. The work continued after his illness and the notion of using metaphor as a compositional starting point has, at this time, formed the basis for all my sonic research and composition. Some other points of departure: digital structuralism, modular systemic processing, solitary parameter based interactive performance, image drones, contextual music, glaze/kiln music, analog/digital hybrids, granular synthesis, headphones, time grafting, modular synthesis, micro tonal clusters, moment clusters, destructive improvisational editing, rate of change patterns, logarithmic processing, filters, time sweeps, restricted randomization patterns, Iannis Xenakis, Merzbow, John Cage, and Gyorgy Ligeti. source materials included: wine glasses, baby toys, pure tones, bells, music boxes, gears, water, etc... track 2: 'Dizzy From the Cold Meds' contains samples of 3 unpublished early electronic works by Pauline Oliveros dating from around 1966." - Andrew Deutsch, 6/29/03.

Jacques Diennet
"Aubracs"
CD
$13.00
GMEM (France)
AL03
music for percussion, digital synthesizer and magnetic tape. two parts of a diptych of interior landscapes. awakening harmonies and undulating melodies, its clefts and crags. long sequences, the drawing out of sound, is the principle of confrontation between blunt almost harsh tone of the percussion and the more sophisticated instruments of digital technology. features Gérard Siracusa on percussion. released in 1987.

Thomas Dimuzio
"Markoff Process"
CD
$12.00
RRRecords (U.S.)
RRR-CD-15
a heavy fog of ambient noises. "'Markoff Process' features a series of concerts performed and recorded by Thomas Dimuzio during 1990 and 1991. All titles were improvised live using an interactive system of digital samplers and sound processors with realtime control - no sequencers or backing tapes were employed. Thomas Dimuzio plays digital samplers, audio processors, and MIDI Remote Controller (add analog synthesizer on 'Raohst'). David Prescott plays tapes and audio processors on 'Travelog'. 'Markoff Process' is a compilation of the following previously released cassette recordings: 'Lightswitch' (Gench, 1990); 'Songs Songs' (Realization Recordings, 1990); 'Remote' (1 Zer0), 1991)." - from the liner notes.

Thomas Dimuzio
"Mono::Poly"
2 x CD
$15.00
Asphodel / Gench Music (U.S.)
GENCH 1001
"Thomas Dimuzio's 'Mono::Poly' is the first joint production between Asphodel and Dimuzio's own Gench Recordings label. A double CD set, 'Mono::Poly' anthologizes the best of Dimuzio's live solo performances and collaborations with fellow experimental musicians, moving across multiple genre and cultural boundaries. Spanning the years 1997-2002, each track on this anthology displays Dimuzio pushing the envelope of contemporary processing technology to truly epic, post-rock proportions. Featuring the talents of collaborators and friends such as Invisbl Skratch Pikl Q-Bert, Tigerbeat6 hip-hop deconstructionist Wobbly, Henry Cow alumni and noted soloists Chris Cutler and Fred Frith, Scott Jenerik, Atau Tanaka and more, 'Mono::Poly' is a terrific introduction to a brilliant artist working at the top of his form." - label description. also includes collaborations with Zipper Spy, Anna Homler, Solid Eye, Illusion of Safety, Scott Arford, Nick Didkovsky, Yasuhiro Otani, The Jet Black Hair People, and Kadet Kuhne.

Dislocation
"Carve Another Notch"
CD
$16.00
Scatter (Scotland)
SCATTER 01:CD
free improvised noise from Japan featuring Fujio Kimura (electric strings), Yoshinori Yanagawa (saxophones), Toyohiro Okazaki (electronics), and Keishi Kiyokawa (intermixed action and video). the first release from this Scottish label that went on to release work by Derek Bailey and Lol Coxhill, among others.

Michel Doneda, Urs Leimgruber & Keith Rowe
"The Difference Between A Fish"
CD
$17.00
Potlatch (France)
P 302
Michel Doneda: soprano saxophone; Urs Leimgruber: tenor & soprano saxophones; Keith Rowe: guitar & electronics. "Two long tracks comprise 'The Difference Between A Fish', an oddly balanced album of saxophones - Doneda on soprano, Leimgruber playing tenor and soprano - and guitar electronics, by Rowe. A fifteen-month gap separates the recording of the 'The First Part' from 'The Third Part' but the music could just as easily be two bubbles blown from the same fish on the same breathful of water. Building up tension slowly through persistent, slight shifts of contour and color, the trio manages to hold our attention without actually gratifying it. It's like blowing a magnificently growing bubble with enough surface tension to repel a whale; it may be hollow inside, but we'll never know because it doesn't break. These two improvisations invite us to glimpse a world of decelerated morphing, where the state of being is a state of foaming pressure. Without a climax or momentous change of direction to overtly alert our attention to sonic developments, 'The Difference Between A Fish' depends on the listener's own ability to concentrate on the music, and on a willingness to be surrounded by sound, however unappealing." - Andrew Choate in Coda, January 2004.

Roger Doyle
"Oizzo No / Thalia"
CD
$12.00
Silverdoor (Ireland)
SIDO 012 CD
amazing electroacoustic work from Ireland. "The music on this CD represents the early works of Irish composer Roger Doyle - pieces composed in the late 1960s to mid 70s, re-packaged and re-mastered in 2002. It includes his extremely rare self-released 1975 debut LP 'Oizzo No' and his second LP 'Thalia' from 1978, originally released on CBS Classics, all on the one 77 minute CD. The earliest piece is 'Bitter-Sweet Suite' for out-of-tune piano composed when he was 18, and the latest 'Thalia', his first large-scale electronic piece, composed at the age of 26. Doyle is most well-known for his United Dairies' Operating Theatre masterwork 'Rapid Eye Movements', his third LP. 'Thalia / Oizzo No' contains his work leading up to this legendary piece and fills in the picture of his early development." - label description. high recommended!

Costis Drygianakis
"Post -Optical Landscapes"
CD
$15.00
Edo (Greece)
E-02
amazingly rich compositions drawing in source recordings he made between 1976 and 1998 with various voices and acoustic instruments which have transformed in a delightful symphony of sounds. "Costis Drygianakis was born in Volos, Greece, in 1965. He graduated in Physics at the University of Thessaloniki. Since 1985, he has been involved systematically with the use of modern technology in music. His works as a composer include two albums with the group Optical Musics (1987 and 1994) as well as music for theatre and documentaries. He was a member in the group Graffiti in Larissa (1990-1995),and, in Ross Daly's group for one year. The music of Costis Drygianakis belongs to the genre of musique concrete, avoiding generally the dogmatic limitations. Frequently using unorthodox relationships of composition - performance - recomposition, it utilizes and tames randomness and improvisation, finding balances between ambiance and surprise, referring, but not coinciding and searching, but never abandoning its sentimental space." - label description. limited edition of 850 copies.

Petra Dubach & Mario Van Horrik
"The Adventures of Toon Scales"
CDR
$13.00
Bake Records (Netherlands)
BAKE 025
last copies of out of print title (Bake Records has ceased operations). "Two Dutch composers with a love for overtones, feedback and long strings. Recorded at Paul Panhuysen's Apollohuis, with whom they are closely associated. Partly they built their own systems and instruments."- label description. Mario is a member of Maciunas Ensemble. among the instruments featured are the Flexitar [two guitars joined with long piano wires and an elastic cord], Het Vogelbekkenstuk [two wooden beams with a string and a spring stretched between them], and Strip Music [two aluminium staves hang from the ceiling, each on a string and spring].

Jacques Dudon
"Lumieres Audibles"
CD
$22.00
Mondes harmoniques (France)
MH 1
"Sounds recorded here come from an instrument which is neither 'acoustic', nor electronic. First, they have been conceived geometrically, then were generated by light through the photosonic process, of which this CD is the first production. Instruments used here are very simple, and include 4 types of elements: a light source; interchangeable semi-transparent discs, on which I drew opaque sound waveforms, or even rhythms; 'optical filters', of various designs, handled like a bow, but controlling mostly sonority; and a photoelectric solar cell, plugged just like a microphone on an ordinary audio amplifier. The disk is certainly the heart of the instrument, the vibrator, that pulses, by its rotation, lightbeams passing through it at audible frequencies, which are converted by the photocell into electric signals directly amplified. Light, as well as filters, and sometimes solar cells being entirely mobile in between the hands of the musician, the interpretation of a disk remains very open and intuitive, the whole space serving as the 'keyboard' for the instrument, and very tiny motions changing instantly the harmonic qualities of the sounds. The photosonic disk, then limiting itself to essential characteristics, is meant to be much more like a vibratory 'palette', a concentration of harmonies, than a mere collection of preprogrammed sounds." - from the liner notes.

Iancu Dumitrescu / Ana-Maria Avram
"Au dela de Movemur • Monades / Ekagrata • Signum Gemini • Zodiaque (III)"
CD
$13.00
Edition Modern (Romania)
EDMN 1002
beautiful spectral works by these two Romanian composers on their own label featuring extended discordant strings and tape music. included are Dumitrescu's "Au dela de Movemur" (1990) for string orchestra and "Monades" for 6 monochords and Harryphone by Dumitrescu; and Avram's "Ekagrata" (1990) for chamber orchestra, "Signum Gemini" (1989) for ensemble and magnetic tape" and "Zodiaque (III)" (1990) for prepared pianos, percussion and magnetic tape. among the performers are Orchestre National de Chambre de Roumanie, Jean-Louis Vicart, Ensemble Hyperion, Aurelian Octav Popa, Viorica Ciurila, Ion Ghita, Doru Roman, plus the composers themselves.

Tore Elgarøy
"The Sound of the Sun"
CD
$11.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2017
solo guitar from member of Fra Lippo Lippi. "In our estimate the most personal and inventive Norwegian guitarist since Terje Rypdal. Tore Elgarøy's career soared to great heights when he appeared on Lee Claytons comeback album and Europe tour in 88, and completely stole the show with the sheer brilliance of his playing. After this he mysteriously withdrew from the music scene, but started writing and recording some years ago, with a completely new approach. 'The Sound of The Sun' is a mix of solo guitar pieces and improvised sound abstractions, all deeply personal, intense and unlike any 'guitar' records we've heard." - label description. Digipak.

Franco Evangelisti
2 x CD
$28.00
Edition RZ (Germany)
ed. RZ 1011-12
a wonderful overview of this often overlooked Italian composer probably best known for founding the Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza. although he had several pieces released on record, they are hard to find and this disc collects many pieces from his personal archives and those of German radio. included are "Proiezioni sonore" for piano (1955-56); "Incontri di fasce sonore" for electronics (1956-57); "Aleatorio" for string quartet (1959); "Spazio a 5" for percussion quartet, voice and electronics (1959-61); "Random or not Random" for orchestra (1957-62); "Cinque strutture" for orchestra and tape (1962-63); "Propozioni" for flute (1958); "Quattro fattoriale (4!)" for piano and violin (1954-55); "Ordini" for 16 instruments (1955); "Campi integrati n. 2" for 9 instruments (1959-79); and "Die Schachtel" for action, film and chamber orchestra (1968). the last piece was previously released on Deutsche Grammophon LP in their Avant Garde, and I suspect the inspiration for the label of the same name. as is standard with Edition RZ, the performer included are top class: Aloys Kontarsky, Franco Evangelisti, Società Cameristica Italiana, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Gabriele Ferro, Orchestra della VI Settimana di Palermo, Giampiero Taverna, David Tudor, Eberhard Blum, LaSalle Quartet, Wolfgang Marschner, Ensemble Strumentale da Camera, James Demby, Gruppo Spettro Sonoro, Luca Pfaff, soloists of the Orchesters der Münchener Kammeroper, and Eberhard Schoener. packaged in a gatefold sleeve with 8-panel insert featuring liner notes by Heinz-Klaus Metzger.

Francis Faber
"Ecce Femina"
3" CD
$10.00
La Grande Fabrique (France)
LGF 002
texts by J.-P. Faye (read by Francis Facon) set to electroacoustic sound collage and cello (played by Laurence Allalah). very dramatic and powerful. packaged in gatefold sleeve.

Faust
CD
$23.00
Polydor (Japan)
POCP 2404
Faust burst onto the 'Krautrock' scene in 1971 with this debut LP originally pressed on clear vinyl with a clear sleeve with only an x-ray image of a fist (which is 'faust' in German). the group had been groomed by music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck to be the next big thing selling the idea to Polydor in a big way. the major label actually put the 6 piece band up in the German countryside with their own living quarters and record studio, as well as the engineer Kurt Graupner. able to play and record whenever the mood struck them, they developed a unique style and sound helped a great deal by Graupner who was not only able to record the band, but also build custom 'black box' effects to the group member's specifications. reportedly recorded in a very short time to meet the record label's demand for some product to show for their investment, this album is at once very relaxed yet also finely worked out in detail. beginning with radio static catching snatches of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (Xhol recorded a similar beginning to their album a year earlier, but it would not be released for another year after the Faust debut), Faust launched into a mixture of classical instrumentation, wild tape effects, searing electric guitar, Dada lyrics, and propulsive rhythms. absolutely befuddling their record label (who gave them a chance with a second LP and then traded them to Virgin), the three long tracks "Why Don't You Eat Carrots", "Meadow Meal" and "Miss Fortune" in time worked their way into the consciousness of some blown heads as they had created simply some of the best experimental rock music ever. more so than their contemporaries, Faust stuck with opening up the field of rock music. they didn't go soft like Guru Guru, Amon Düül II, Can, and countless others. they stayed weird and did it amazingly well. thanks to Chris Cutler of Henry Cow and Recommended Records, the music of Faust was kept in print (more or less) over the years. however, Faust's first efforts never made it onto CD until this Japanese issue from 1995 as part of their German Rock Collection. packaged in a jewel case with the artwork printed on white paper (instead of clear...), this edition honestly comes off a little better visual than the CD included in the otherwise wonderful "Wümme Years" box set.

Faust
"1971-73: The Wümme Years"
5 x CD box
$55.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR FB1
still sealed copies from the first pressing! "5 CDs in a presentation box with a substantial booklet containing, amongst other things never-before published contemporary pictures, interviews with the legendary Kurt Graupner - the engineer responsible for Faust's extraordinary early recordings - whose innovations and experiments are finally given the exposure they deserve (he has never been interviewed before and took some tracking down) and with members of the original group. This is story of an extraordinarily creative period and of a remarkable situation - the group had their own studio, almost unheard of at the time, and a lot of people came and went and a lot of extraordinary things happened there, here documented for the first time. There is also a memoire by Peter Blegvad (who stayed and worked at Wümme in those years (the first Slapphappy LPs were made there) and much more. Then there is the film connection - and a lot of other documentary material. The CDs in the box are the first 2 historic records: 'Faust' and 'Faust So Far' ('So Far' with its artwork restored), 'The Faust Tapes' completely re-mastered and repackaged, '71 Minutes Of' re-mastered and repackaged, and finally the legendary 1973 BBC sessions plus 5 unreleased tracks from the period and two others never released on CD." - label description.

Gino Favotti
"Electric Forest"
CD
$13.00
Motus (France)
M398001
a collaboration between the elder (acousmatic composer) and younger (school boys interested in techno) resulting in a cross between the genres. an evocation of a futuristic forest utilizing treated sounds from the Barthelemy bronze foundry and the forest of Saou. 24 minutes.

Fibrillation
"My Axis is Undone"
3" CD
$8.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM22
"Holding a deep love of refraction in all things, luminescence at night, of childhood memories blurring with time..taking on their own significance through abstraction. Becoming aware of the animistic nature of the landscape via dissociative episodes, paranoia mutating into awareness. A series of dreams etching strong images deep into the mind long after waking, floating in dark blue water while looking at a glowing gold sky. The feeling of absolute *now* during an electrical storm. Using kirlian photography as postcards to communicate the vividness of a new space. All these things and more.." This collection of six pieces is the first official release by Fibrillation, following his appearance on the Anomalous Records compilation LP "Electrically Induced Vibrations". Constructed with great care, these will reveal many layers over repeated listening. Though he works largely in the realms of electronic music, no source is considered outside of his realm, and in fact many fragments of sound important to his life are incorporated in the complex weave of aural communication. Fibrillation aims to create a sound compliment to mental images and evoke important personal experiences. Each sound is in the place where it belongs to create the desired whole. So while initially, one may be taken in by the beautiful swell of warm harmonic drone that opens the disc, you will eventually find that below the surface there lies much more. Packaged in mini-DVD case with full color cover and insert.

Flying Sweety Dog
"The Complete Dog"
CDR
$7.00
Butterflied Lamb Records (England)
LAM-001
"Duo consisting of Anders Arentoft (The Bohman Brothers Extended Family, Tape Salad and more) and Nishide Takehiro (Noise Flamenco and more). Two boys get together in a tiny room, get out all their toys and start playing. Mainly with their backs turned to eachother, they speak the same language, for approximately one hour. As they work themselves up eventually they start throwing things around and slapping eachother a bit. This is the sound of cavemen in the time of electricity. Has been described as being 'more extreme than Slayer' and as sounding like 'the internal trauma of a cow giving birth' by two friends of the two. The edition is limited to 154 copies. Handmade collage covers, each one completely different." - label description. in other words, it's very wacky, or is that wacked, and over the edge. extreme enough to stand out from the crowd, these two guys take this out there.

Henry Flynt
"New American Ethnic Music Volume 3: Hillbilly Tape Music"
CD
$13.00
Recorded (U.S.)
Recorded 007
"The third release in Recorded's groundbreaking archival series on the mind-blowing music of Henry Flynt, inventor of virtuosic electronic hillbilly music and other highly developed and idiosynractic genres. This record deals with Flynt's most 'electronic' work to date, but the modern-experimental aspects of Flynt's work are, as always, in the service of deeply rooted ecstatic hillbilly sensibility. Opens with the startling 'Violin Strobe' and contains pieces which verge on kryptonite rockabilly and tranced-out shades of Bo Didley. As usual, all completely essential, recently unearthed breathtaking music from one of the most original and driven musical minds of the century." - label description. the pieces on here date from 1971 to 1978, though one was redone in 2001.

Alessandro Fogar
"Transmutations"
CDR
$13.00
s'agita recordings (Italy)
s'agita 017
long of print limited edition CDR of experimental ambient music. "dim-lit aggregates of mysteric knowledge by Alessandro Fogar." - label description.

Bernard Fort
"12 Haiku / L'impatience des limites"
CD
$14.00
GMVL (France)
GMVL CD 010
very skillfully crafted breathing and gentle electroacoustic compositions made of insect noises. "12 haiku for celestial peace." haikus are short Japanese poems like photographs of sensations and sentiments. 12 Haiku like the 12 months of the year, grouped in three like the months are to the seasons. 12 haiku translated from the Japanese to match his 12 clear and concise small acoustmatique movements of sensations and sentiments. also includes the 18 minute piece "L'impatience des limites", a work created for INA-GRM. a musical reflection of time and love lost. special fold out cover. recommended.

Ellen Fullman
"Staggered Stasis"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM29
Over the last two decades, Ellen Fullman has been perfecting her Long String Instrument. This unique instrument of her own design is some 80 feet in length and played by literally walking through it. The resulting sounds are beautiful gliding tones with a rich harmonic content. The CD presents two works from her time in Austin, Texas in the late 1980's which beautifully display a sound you can get inside of. These long tracks envelope you in their cascading overtones. Even though she has performed widely in the United States and Europe, this is only Ellen's third solo CD, following previous releases on XI Records and New Albion. So hearing these gorgeous and important pieces from her archive is cause for celebration.

Beat Furrer
"Nuun • Presto con Fuoco • Still • Poemas"
CD
$13.00
Kairos (Austria)
KAI 1206
"In his early works, Beat Furrer has heavily influenced by Nono and Boulez. Furrer has since developed his own voice, but the complete break with standard forms of both composers, and the Gallic fastidiousness of Boulez can still be heard in the works presented here. 'Nuun' is named after the God in Breton mythology who had the power to let time stand still. Scored for two pianos and orchestra, there is plenty of noise going on, but the sounds all seem to be static in time. 'Presto con Fuoco', for flute and piano, begins quietly. Soon the music accelerates rapidly, coming to a glacial halt at the end. 'Still' is most interesting for its extreme contrasts between silence and bursts of noise. 'Poemas', scored for mezzo, guitar, piano and marimba, combines the elements of rapid movement and static contemplation. Text is by Pablo Neruda." - label description. performed by Klangforum Wien with conductors Peter Eötvös and Sylvain Cambreling and soloists Marino Formenti, Florian Müller, Eva Furrer, and Elizabeth Laurence.

Furt
"Defekt"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD50
what appears to be the third CD by the electronics duo of Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer who work in the field of improvisation while paying homage to great European composers (on this disc, dedications are made to Konrad Boehmer and Karlheinz Stockhausen and on one track they start from Schubert's Winterreise). the results are a unique blend of sampled orchestral work and free electronics. "(1) Plint was intended as a sixtieth birthday present for Konrad Boehmer, and is a studio piece derived entirely from piano-duo improvisations by FURT recorded in Berlin in December 2001. (2) Gute Nacht was originally the first part of the performance Failed Experiment, given at the ICA in London in November 1997 by FURT together with vocalist Ute Wassermann and cellist Friedrich Gauwerky, and using seven songs from Schubert's Winterreise as its point of departure. This opening, however, involves no "live" activity apart from a single vocal event. It was produced at Walter Fabeck's studio in Watford, October 1997.(3) Volksmusik was produced in Amsterdam for a performance in the Sammlung Essl (in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna) as part of the November 2000 Wien Modern festival. The ascendancy during that year of the fascist FPÖ– and its leading demagogue, Jörg Haider, had prompted many musicians to cancel engagements in Austria in protest; our response was to assert our freedom to make "entartete Musik", while making a gesture of solidarity with the opposition movement by including an item whose political nature could not be mistaken. Volksmusik features the voice of Charlie Chaplin. (4) Ultimtaum was performed live several times during 1999 and 2000. This final recording is of a slightly edited studio performance made in Amsterdam on 29 February 2000. It is the third part of a tetralogy entitled Out of Time (itself extracted from the longer, incomplete Day and Night cycles), which begins with Johannes- Passion (1993), continues with Angel (1995, released on CD by JdK Productions) and concludes with problem (2001). Ultimatum is dedicated to Karlheinz Stockhausen." - from the liner notes

Fuzzybunny
CD
$12.00
Sonore (France)
SON-014
"American electronic improvisers ensemble that features three of the most energetic hackers in computer-sound research and innovation for more than two decades: Tim Perkis, Scot Gresham-Lancaster and Chris Brown. With their own interactive software, each musicians retains his autonomy but can also decide to intervene and influence the others. Fuzzybunny music is very surprising, aleatoric and full of irony." - label description.

Xavier Garcia
"L'Apocalypse • Image Mirage"
CD
$14.00
GMVL (France)
GMVL CD 05
"Apocalypse": A film for the ears in nine parts based on the Apocalypse of John, featuring the voice of Marin de Charette (also heard on Philippe Mion "L'image éconduite" INA-GRM LP) paired with gliding electronic sounds transforming from one moment to the next into discordant noises. "Image-mirage": melting and boiling electronic sound textures, twirling backwards and flying into each other. A visible density of altered sounds blurring into each other. This moves around from intense waves to restrained whispers.

Klaus Hollinetz
"Tide [Klangschnitte 6]"
CD
$11.00
Grazer Etikett (Austria)
GE 21
tape music piece from 1995. the work would seem to focus on the extension of sounds, drawing them out into waves, slowly moving and enveloping. "Tide: a composition for an eight-channel recording tape. The audience is surrounded by eight loudspeakers. The 'granularsynthesis'-technique incorporates the spatial spread in the composition. The music is made from a small amount of basic sounds: sentences spoken in a staccato-like manner, music for flutes from Suwa and Guadalcanal, chime players from Ebensee, the sound of a demolated musical clock, and the first bars of two madrigals by Gesualdo."

Hubbub
"Hoop Whoop"
CD
$14.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD53
improvisations by Paris based ensemble by Hubbub: Frederic Blondy, Bertrand Denzler, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Jean-Sebastian Mariage and Edward Perraud. "Hubbub means 'clamor', 'commotion', 'confusion' but also 'agitation', 'excitement'. 'Sound and fury', but also culture fluid and brownian motion: a name with many echoes in sound, in physics, in biology and yet nobody's name. It is a sign. The horizon which was revealed by such an idea of improvisation (since the very beginning of AMM) is entirely open. By establishing new continuums in the functioning of the group and the flow of play, from within the music matter-but also from between its inside and its outside- this music calls forth new dispositions, new organic contiguities. 'Hoop, Whoop' is not a work, it is a process. The only relationship possible for us with this process is a vital and passionate experience which opens up to it. What follows is no longer ours." - from the liner notes.

John Hudak
"Sand Or Stars"
CD
$10.00
and/OAR (U.S.)
and/16
"Comparisons between the sand of the earth with the stars above are many, but comparisons of this release by American composer John Hudak with his previous work are far less to be found. The first piece of this CD mastered by John's friend and collaborator Stephan Mathieu (Sirr.ecords, Lucky Kitchen, Hapna, etc), is unlike much of John's previous work in that it features sharp staccato percussive sounds suddenly dodging in and out, but nevertheless it still has John's 'endless' compositional sense written into it. A subtle sense of humor seems to be inherent in the piece as well, as if some of the sounds hesitate with indecision as to whether or not they should make their presence known or perhaps they are trying to avoid colliding with some of the other sounds. And upon listening to this piece, be careful with volume settings at first listen, because the listener will quickly discover another aspect of this piece that is unlike much of John's previous work: sudden volume shifts. This seems to suggest that the sounds are also changeable in temperament as well! The second piece on this CD is perhaps the most meditative of the collection with its muted midrange buzzing that jumps around within the stereo spectrum, perhaps being reminiscent of musical radar signals or sonifications of normally inaudible activity occurring in a planet's magnetosphere, all the while maintaining a benevolent warmth throughout. And what could possibly be described as the amplification of rolling ion particle blasts being broadcast via shortwave radio, tells us that we have reached the third and final piece of this collection of what could be considered as being among John Hudak's finest works." - label description.

If, Bwana
"33 Birds Went"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21007-2
a strange collection of sounds made by Al Margolis (electronics, tapes, etc.), Ellen Christi (vocals), Brian Charles (oboe, bass clarinet, soprano sax). Special guest appearances by Jane Scarpantoni (taped cello), and Kevin Sparke (percussion). "Five deep, spooky, lengthy tracks cleanly sewn together with samples, tapes, electronics, clarinets, cellos, saxes and voices. Many sounds collide here, but the mood remains low-key-occasionally becoming disorienting in some of the louder passages. Imagine an ambient music that is more organic than much of the strictly pre-fab, synthesized stuff fed to hungry consumers of that genre today, and you have the music of If, Bwana. Calming, but too demanding of the ears to be mere background noise." - The Subversive Workshop Newsletter #16

If, Bwana
"Tripping India"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21013-2
"Consisting of 3 compositions, 'Tripping India' is the 3rd If, Bwana release on Pogus. On this recording If, Bwana is joined by, among others, Paul Marotta (Styrenes/Electric Eels/Mirrors) on '3 Out of 4 Ain't Bad', a conceptual work for 3 different pianists, playing 3 different pianos at 3 different times to the same tape. The final version is for 3 pianists, no tape. 'PR-DR' is an electroacoustic work for processed/manipulated percussion. The title piece combines audio 'snapshots' of a wandering through India with multiple tracks of manipulated and processed drums and percussion. The end result is an 'audio travelogue for 2 (highly) manipulated percussionists'." - label description.

Tetsu Inoue & Andrew Deutsch
"Field Tracker"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 9
"Field Tracker was recorded at the Institute for Electronic Art, Alfred NY during the Winter of 2000. Inoue, utilizing his digital sound processing systems in combination with bells, guitar, and other odd sound making objects, constructed tiny improvisational sound moments each one having a shape and gesture of their own. These 'micro compositions' were at times highly abstract and noisy and at other times extremely melodic and calm. Many of these micro compositions were used in the production of his recent release 'Object and Organic Code', the others (almost 2 hours worth) were handed over to Andrew Deutsch who was to construct another release combining sounds of his own. Being responsible for the overall 'Auskomponierung' or 'compositional unfolding' of the work, Deutsch combined synthesized sounds, drones, chatter, loops and other DSP techniques to produce what he hoped would be a kind of 'Gebrauchsmusik' or 'useful music' that one might use in the home. The work has a notion of 'ambitendency' built into it, that is, the tendency toward change combined with an equal tendency toward stasis. The work could be described as 'meta-divisionism', 'Baroque Minimalism', or 'expanded systemic digital minimalism'. Sound works for our new recombinatory world." second pressing with black label.

Institut Für Feinmotorik
"Verschiedene: CD-Projekt"
CD
$16.00
Staubgold (Germany)
IFFCD
"in mid 1998 several soundartists received among an inquiry for this project a CD with an handmade lockgroove carved into its upperside. this lockgroove contained individual sounds because of its handmade origin and had to be taken off with a record player. the token sounds were meant to be used as basic material for further worked out remixes. the mode how this lockgroove was taken off by the recordplayers' pick-up as well as any further processing and manipulating the worked out material was completely up to the hands of the interpreting artists. the here presented cd-compilation contains 10 tracks worked out of the original lockgrooves (playable on any usual cd-player) plus a handmade lockgroove on the upperside of the cd (a record player without automatic pick-up device and some sensible precision motoricity required), similar to the one the soundartists received as original material at the beginning of the project." artists featured are Teleform, Sudden Infant, Shave Ass, Pomassl, Herkules Dreigangduo, Farmers Manual, Marces Maeder, cd-slopper, Batchas and Anja Theissmann / Klaus Sander. also, the disc has a lock groove cut into it which can be played on a turntable without automatic return.

Intravene
"Flotation Toy Warning"
CD
$15.00
Auf Abwegen (Germany)
AATP04
"Intravene is the newly formed project by Stephen Meixner (Contrastate) and Steve Pittis (Band Of Pain). After working together on various one-off improvisations Meixner and Pittis have decided to join forces for a new creative outfit. Intravene combines the two best features of these participants' main projects: it has Contrastate's expertise for dense arrangements and cultural comment through collage work but also feature some of the dense atmospherics of which The Band Of Pain are so bloody capable. 'Flotation Toy Warning' is a very dark but informed stream of consciousness musical endeavor which demands the listener's attention to the full." Limited edition of 711 copies.

Phil James
"Already Gone"
CD
$10.00
Sparkling Beatnik Records (U.S.)
SBR0021
six pieces made from shakuhachi, voice, harmonium, pedal steel guitar, Native American flute, turntables, electronics and drums. "Already Gone (six variations) marks Phil James' return to sharing his music publicly after a 15-year hiatus. This album reflects his in-depth study of alternative tunings and of traditional Japanese music as well as an interest in the breath as a primary rhythmic and structural basis for composition. As an exploration of impermanence and as a memorial to those who have died young, each variation uses the audible rising and falling of the breath as an underpinning, but each time in a different way. The work also uses space, especially extreme distance of sound sources, as an important compositional element.In all of his recent music, the overall feeling of a piece is determined in part by the juxtaposition of several different non-equal temperaments. For instance, the first variation features a drone on harmoniums electronically retuned to two ancient Chinese scales, a pedal steel guitar in just intonation, and a shakuhachi flute playing around an Indonesian slendro scale. Despite this use of world tunings and instrumentation, the often dense polymodal textures are chosen for emotional/musical effect rather than cultural reference." - label description.

Arsenije Jovanovic
CD
$10.00
La Legende des Voix (France)
LDV008
"This CD presents four compositions spanning 15 years. What we hear in the first two works dating from 79 and 77 are sound improvisations in a certain acoustic setting. The first of the two consists mainly of improvised percussion and processing of metal plates in a cave, the second work also includes voice and sounds more like a composition. This latter one clearly breathes the atmosphere of Nono's vocal works but by processing the vocal material Jovanovic turns it into an electroacoustic composition. In the third work too, dating 1988, the atmosphere is black as night. Chaos, imminent disaster, is what this work communicates. This composition consists of a series of scenes thereby creating an acoustic theater. Drama, I would say, of the blackest sort. The last work, Ma Maison (1993), is a construction of sound that J. recorded at his home. Apparently it is nearby a harbor. We hear seagulls, ship horns, wind, but also metallic feedback, breaths, wooden percussion. It is at once the most desolate and most peaceful of the quartet that is presented on this CD." - Ios Smolders in Vital .

Rolf Julius
"Music for a Garden [small music vol. 3]"
CD
$14.00
Mattress Factory (U.S.)
MF0001-2
environmental music from 1996 for the outdoor garden designed by Winifred Lutz at the Mattress Factory [a museum of installation art] in Pittsburgh. electronic buzzers combined with nature sounds, all mixed and manipulated to achieve subtle interplay of slow moving sound fields. it is like a dense chorus of nighttime insects. the five-panel, fold-out booklet includes drawings by the artist. if you like John Hudak, then you very likely enjoy this also. highly recommended!

Eyvind Kang
"Live Low To The Earth, in the Iron Age"
CD
$20.00
Abduction (U.S.)
ABDT 022
Eyvind is a very talented man of Korean and Icelandic decent whose skill has attracted the attention of everyone from John Zorn to Beck. mostly pegged as a violinist, he's actually quite handy with a number of instruments, and as an equal knack for bizarre concepts. in fact one of his two shows at the old Anomalous space was so off the wall that he scared off 15 of the 20 people in the audience before the end of the evening. pretty impressive, especially considering one of the early departures was someone about to put out a CD by Kang. anyhow, among the 'everyones' that that he's captured the hearts of have been the Sun City Girls (he appears on a few recordings by them even). for their label, he's actually turned in a really peaceful album (at least by SCG standards) made up of four long tracks with a rather peaceful feeling about them. really one of the finer recordings of his music, though I think it still only expresses a portion of his musical personality. a really wonderful CD that is now sadly long out of print.

Edward Ka-Spel
"Lyvv China Doll"
CD
$14.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 060
"A bizarre venture through Edward's psyche showcased through an assortment of outtakes, sketches, and small pieces recorded over a 10-year period. This is quite possibly the most anomalistic CD he has ever released. The content of the few lyrical pieces here ranges from dejected and unsettling ('Dada') to disturbingly humorous ('Beautiful Plastic'). More familiar territory is briefly re-visited in the form of 'Tower 8', which is reminiscent of tracks from the classic Legendary Pink Dots releases 'The Tower' and 'Island of Jewels'. Several instrumental offerings serve up enough variety, aggressiveness and eccentricity to please every palate. The standout track is also the creepiest song Edward's ever recorded...a peculiar near-maniacal duet with Ignit entitled 'Lying In State'. When it comes right down to it, no one but Edward could have dabbled with such a bizarre cacophony of empirical noise and produced such a successful end result." - Lisa Amend.

Lydia Kavina
"The Art of the Theremin"
CD
$14.00
Mode Records (U.S.)
mode 76
original compositions for theremin by Bohuslaw Matinu, Percy Grainger, Joseph Schillinger, Vladimir Komarov, Isidor Achron, Lydia Kavina, Friedrich Wilkins, and Jorge Antunes. "As her hands dance around the instrument's antennas, Lydia Kavina proves the theremin is no mere producer of Hollywood sound effects. One of the first attempts to unite music and scientific technology in the 20th century, the theremin is considered to be the ancestor of modern electronic musical instruments. It has been hailed as the 'instrument of the future' (according to Cage, Varèse, Grainger and others) to Hollywood sound effect (played in soundtracks to Spellbound, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Lost Weekend, etc.) to rock-and-roll instrument (used by The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Portishead and others). Russian theremin virtuoso Kavina presents the first release EVER dedicated solely to original compositions for the instrument-spanning the 'golden age' of the theremin from its invention in the 1920s to contemporary works. This disc is full of discoveries, including Martinu's Fantasia, and Grainger's graphically notated Free Music #1, along with other 'period' works by Schillinger (known for his writings on music and as a guru to composers from Gershwin to Earle Brown) and Isidor Achron (the accompanist to Heifetz). Modern works are represented by Kavina herself, Brazilian Jorge Antunes (with electronic tape) and Russian Vladimir Komarov, whose work also incorporates the inventor's voice and a rendition of Glinka's infamous The Lark, which Theremin had performed for Lenin to demonstrate the instrument. Kavina is today's leading thereminist. The granddaughter of Leon Theremin's first cousin, she was the inventor's last protégée. She began studying the instrument with him at the age of 9, and was concertizing by age 14. She has appeared in Howard Shore's soundtracks to eXistenZ and the Oscar-winning movie Ed Wood, and has performed in the Tom Waits / Robert Wilson collaborations Alice and The Black Rider. Kavina now serves on the lecture staff of The Glinka Museum and is affiliated with the Theremin Center, both in Moscow. Kavina is accompanied by pianist Joshua Pierce (noted for his series of Cage piano works on Wergo as well as a virtuoso performer in the Romantic repertoire), the renowned Portland String Quartet and coloratura soprano Elizabeth Parcells." - label description.

Greg Kelley
"If I Never Meet You In This Life, Let Me Feel The Lack"
CD
$14.00
Rossbin (Italy)
RS006
"As far as I know this is the second solo work of Greg Kelley, after the Meniscus release of few years ago... the impression is that this time he play his instrument in a more abstract way, probably this one is one of his most difficult work, or at least it seams to me; not difficult because noisy, but because of his complexity, very different from anything else he did before, far more experimental and far more compromised with a new way to be a musician and an improviser ... first time I listen to it I get surprised, it's one track only that last approximately 33 minutes, 33 minutes of pure 'trumpet' sounds, sometimes acoustics and sometimes elaborated, but always it's just difficult to perceive it's a trumpet... actually all the record sound very different from what it could be expected from a trumpet solo CD. Drones, glitches, almost quiet,with little changes of tones. It's a work that need time and wish to be penetrate but one you get into it will show you how complicate and vary could be something apparently so easy; lots of passion and a great technique make this records something absolutely pleasant; a great records from a great musician." - Alessandro Bianco. "Greg Kelley graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1995, returning to his native Massachusetts shortly thereafter. Upon moving to Boston in 1996, he soon became an integral member of the city's burgeoning experimental improvisation scene, garnering much praise for his unique vocabulary of extended techniques and timbral manipulation. In 1998, Kelley began a pattern of dedicated travelling, performing throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. These travels have led to collaborations w/ a coterie of international artists including Pauline Oliveros, Anthony Braxton, Le Quan Ninh, Phil Minton, Joe McPhee, Gunter Muller, Paul Lovens, Keiji Haino, Eddie Prevost, Kevin Drumm, John Butcher, and Donald Miller. It was also in 1998 that Kelley formed the group nmperign, w/ soprano saxophonist Bhob Rainey."

Greg Kelley & Jason Lescalleet
"Forlorn Green"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 019
"Over the last few years, the Boston/Cambridge improv scene has emerged as potentially the most exciting in the US. Greg Kelley and Jason Lescalleet are two of the most compelling figures in this scene. Kelley, a stunningly original trumpeter, graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1995. He has since garnered much praise for his unique vocabulary of extended techniques and timbral manipulation. In 1998, Kelley began a pattern of dedicated touring, performing throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. These travels have led to numerous collaborations, including ones with Anthony Braxton, Paul Lovens, Keiji Haino, Eddie Prévost, Kevin Drumm and John Butcher. Kelley is best known for his work in the duo nmperign with Bhob Rainey and for his breathtaking solo record on Meniscus, simply titled 'Trumpet'. Lescalleet has been working with different styles of music for over a decade, focusing on the use of tapes for much of that period. In live performance, he uses reel-to-reel tape decks to explore the textures of low fidelity analog sounds and the natural phenomena of old tape and obsolete technology. He blends layers of ambient tapeloops, moving through levels of silence and white noise, all transformed through cheap microphones and trashed speakers. For his studio work, Lescalleet uses the computer as a processing and organizational tool. He has worked with such wide-ranging artists as Francisco López, Donald Miller, Achim Wollscheid, and John Hudak. Kelley and Lescalleet first met in early 1998. The following year, Lescalleet joined nmperign for the first in a series of collaborations culminating in the release of a split CD 'In Which the Silent-Partner Director Is No Longer Able to Make His Point To The Industrial Dreamer' (Intransitive). Eventually, the duo project documented here materialized: the outcome of three years of enthusiastic aesthetic discussions, performances containing near silences one night or (literal) showers of sparks on another, countless phone calls and emails, and endless listening. 'Forlorn Green' is the end result of four recording dates, two live collaborations, one recording of Kelley solo, and one recording of Kelley under Lescalleet's direction, employing uncommon recording equipment and unconventional techniques. 'Forlorn Green' merges a remarkable variety of neo-industrial rumbles and incisive interruptions, all flawlessly fused and integrated, creating a lo-fi concrète masterpiece." - label description.

Dave Knott
"Natura naturans"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOT 1
in 1997, Dave proposed an 'installation' in the then store and performance space incarnation of Anomalous Records. his proposal was to mount various discarded strings (not just from guitars, but other instruments) onto scrap board, and then mount those onto the wall above the entry staircase. the strings themselves were often permanently prepared, and with the wall itself (or the banister in the case one) acting as a resonator, they produced a surprising diversity of sounds, much beyond their simple appearance. many people trying them or hearing them played were surprised to hear tones like gongs and cymbals, along with others that sounded more like plunked instruments, albeit with a different bent. as they were in an unusual location that people didn't often use, the stringboards were free to stay up for longer than most things, and over the six months or so that they were up, Dave altered and added to them (sometimes using things like rocks from the parking lot, sticks, door knobs, etc.). plucked, strung and bowed by random visitors, they were used to full effect during Jeph Jerman's weekly improvisations with Aaron Wintersong, which Dave was soon a regular member of. being as they had become a part of the environment for so long (Dave even installed one in the bathroom in the end), we decided it would be wise to document them before Anomalous left the space, especially as Dave had decided to auction them off at the last show. so, Dave and I spent an afternoon close mic'ing (no contact mics here, these needed to sing through the air around them) each stringboard in succession. the playing varied much between very gentle playing letting the notes decay to cacophony of strings assaulted, though did seem to lean overall more towards the calmer side of things. through Dave remained aware of his surrounding, the environment for so many past performances, and actually played along with many ambient elements such as noises coming from the dry cleaner below and the sounds of the street outside, which you can hear on this disc if you listen very closely or turn it up very loud. the resulting 90 minutes we recorded lay for a while, but was in the end painstakingly listened and re-listened to by Dave and edited down to this CD. in the listening back, Dave made many mental notes and associations with all the sounds, which we preserved by marking several tracks with many index points (a feature very few CDs seem to use) and giving each of those a title. the package is completed by liner notes from Jeph Jerman and Dave, photos of the stringboards, and a beautiful full color painting made for the project by Russell W. Gordon.

Jo Kondo
"Chamber Music"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 110
"Each sound must have its own entity and life. What I am doing in my compositions is to create a web of intertonal relationships, while trying to safeguard the possibility of aurally perceiving the individual entity and life of every single tone in that relationship." - Jo Kondo. performed by Ensemble l’art pour l’art. edition of 3000.

Jo Kondo
"Works for Piano"
CD
$17.00
Hat Hut Records Ltd. (Switzerland)
hat(now)ART 135
"The nine pieces on this CD are all that I have written so far for solo piano. Until this recording project was proposed to me, I had been unaware of having written so many pieces for solo piano, enough to fill a whole CD. Although the piano is one of my favorite instruments, which I use almost constantly in my chamber works, I never thought the solo piano could become a major medium for my music. In fact, composition for any solo instrument has not interested me too much, probably because of my proclivity to write music for instrumental ensembles, where interrelationships among the parts (or the members of the ensemble) play a crucial role. This may somehow explain the fact that the first two pieces on this CD, Sight Rhythmics and Walk, were not originally written for solo paino." - Jo Kondo. edition of 3000. performed by Satoko Inoue.

Konkrete Kantikle
CD
$10.00
Ventricle (U.S.)
VENT-13
psychedelic ethereal taking collages of concrete material and turning them into cosmic washes of sound mixed with ghostly voices. the trio features Linda Suzanne (voice), St. Astatine (metals) and Kelly Thistle (organ). a part of the silver series with foil cover featuring nice artwork by Geoff Blake.

Igor Korneitchouk
"Sonic Habitats"
CD
$11.00
Old King Cole Productions (U.S.)
OKCD002
"Wind chimes made of glass, metal and natural sounding bamboo alongside plucked piano strings mimic the play of the wind, while underneath play the occasional bird call and train whistle." a very nice gentle ambiance of 46 minutes, followed by a sparse solo piano pieces where the instrument is plucked and strummed rather than played melodically.

Patrick Kosk / Jarmo Sermilä / Otto Romanowski
"Other Reflections"
CD
$12.00
Jasemusiikki (Finland)
Jase CD 0022
fluid electroacoustic works from Finland published in 1994. "The composers on this record have all worked within this type of music since the beginning of the 1970's. Among them, Patrick Kosk is a pure specialist in the field, perhaps the only full-time composer of electro-acoustic music in Finland. In Otto Romanowski's production there are also pieces that include one of the traditional instruments beside the electronic sound. Besides composing, Romanowski has also worked as a pedagogue and developer of studio environments - even computer graphics is no unknown to him. Among the trio, Jarmo Sermilä is the most traditional type of composer, whose production only for a small part touches on electro-acoustic music, and even then it usually includes conventional instruments of music. Sermilä is also, among other things, a festival manager and publisher of music." - from the liner notes. Kosk was featured on Edition RZ 3004.

Annette Krebs and Taku Sugimoto
"A Duo in Berlin"
CD
$14.00
slub music (Japan)
SMCD05
nine very quiet improvisations bordering on silence. "Annette Krebs - electro acoustic guitar; Taku Sugimoto - electric guitar, six string bass guitar. Recorded on May 10, 2000 in Berlin. Annette Krebs (b.1967) studied classical guitar in Frankfurt/Main. She has lived in Berlin since 1993 as a freelance guitarist, and has worked intensively in the crossover area between improvisation and composition, exploring the possibilities of the electro-acoustic guitar with regard to sound structure, noise, the mixing of materials, and space. Various preparation methods are used to produce noises and sounds, which are then enlarged as with a magnifying glass through the use of different microphones and pick ups, so they can be used as musical material. Collaboration with musicians in and outside Berlin in various groups, among others: Duo with Andrea Neumann (inside piano). Concerts in Europe, CD production. Trio with A.N. and Kaffe Matthews (electr.), participation in the 'Unlimited' Festival 99 in Wels. Duo project with Taku Sugimoto. Trio with A.N. and Radu Malfatti (tb,Vienna). Solo projects. Projects with Video. Compositions for 2 videos of Sandra Becker. Quartett with Axel Dörner (tp), Robin Hayward (tuba) and Andrea Neumann, CD production. Collaboration with dancers. Participation in festivals." - label description.

Kristoff K. Roll & Xavier Charles
"La Piece"
CD
$12.00
Potlatch (France)
P 199
a collaboration between electroacoustic duo Kristoff K. Roll and improvising clarinet player Xavier Charles with results between “pictures for ears”, improvised performance and sound installation. “It has always seemed to me that music's most active meanings are those the listener wrests from it, interpretations 'wrought from social activity', as Simon Frith has put it. With social activity comes a host of histories - of identity, of circumstance, of listening - in my case, of almost thirty years of listening to electronic music, electroacoustic music and free improvisation. These broad genres characterize much of the music here. The improvisations of clarinetist Xavier Charles are by turns ruptured, invisibly mended and reconfigured by the 'acousmatic pratique' of Kristoff K. Roll. Those almost-thirty years seem to make this music mine.” - Chris Atton.

Christina Kubisch
"Dreaming of a Major Third"
CD
$15.00
Edition RZ (Germany)
Ed. RZ 10006
the clocktower, in the historic mill complex in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts which houses the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, triggered by variations in sunlight as registered by solar panels interacting with a unique software program. dark sound colors, clear pitches, metal-to-metal strikes and more distinct bell tones - pitch shifted and attack shaped but not electronically altered. a delicate and serene atmosphere. second edition is new cover.

Robertas Kundrotas, Algimantas Lyva, naj - Darius Ciuta
"Californian Sketches"
CDR
$10.00
pasvires pasaulis (Lithuania)
PP-25
Robertas Kundrotas published the only Lithuania magazine to deal with avant-garde music which was called Tango. he also organized concerts such as AMM's visit to that country. together with fellow Lithuanian poet Algimantas Lyva, he wrote "Californian Sketches". here the two read 60 one minute stanzas in their native language [an English translation of the book was done by Andrew McKenzie of The Hafler Trio] which are radically processed by Darius Ciuta of the noise group Naj. Robertas compared the project to Aube in that the two voices reading are the only source material, but they are subjected to a wide variety of processing. the results are not unlike Swedish text-sound composition. this self-published CDR is packaged in a jewel case with the only artwork being the label on the disc and a complimentary label attached to the underside of the tray giving the package a unified circular concept. although stated as being released in an unlimited edition, it does appear that this disc from 2000 is now long out of print.

Kuwayama - Kijima
"01.05.10"
CD
$10.00
Alluvial Recordings (U.S.)
ALL015
"Kiyoharu Kuwayama (cello, violin) and Rina Kijima (violin, viola) have been creating rich, flowing live improvisations for some years. On previous efforts, they have recorded improvisational pieces under a highway interpass whereby the environmental sounds of the area are heard in the background of each piece. Much of this music is to be heard on the trente oiseaux, gg, and 20 City labels, to name a few. With this release, we hear a refinement of this sound as the improvisations found on this CD were recorded in the empty warehouse no.20. Gone are passing cars and other incidental sounds. This work gives us the chance to hear the beautiful interplay of these two gifted musicians that is flawlessly recorded and leaves no detail unheard or muffled. The CD is packaged between five beautiful double sided cards containing artwork from Kiyoharu that suggests alchemy and the melting of sound. An edition of 400." - label description.

Kuwayama - Kijima
"02.08.23"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC032
spare improvisations on cello and violin. "Japanese duo Kuwayama - Kijima have recorded their second release for Trente Oiseaux in an empty warehouse at Nagoya Port. The sound of crickets and waves picked up by microphones placed outside the building were transmitted into the space, where Kuwayama and Kijima played along with them, taking advantage of the natural reverb of the space, and changing their position in it while playing. Compared to to Kuwayama - Kijima's first release on Trente Oiseaux, where cars going over a midnight highway bridge provided a very ambience, this recording’s ambience is much quieter and more static, thus drawing more attention to the duo’s excellent playing, and providing a kind of peaceful canvas if front of which they pursue their musical and sonic explorations. 02.08.23 is a record that demands of the listener to pay attention and to become immersed in the ongoing transformations of sounds and musical figures - when this attitude is taken, listening to the record is a very gratifying experience." - label description.

Brandon LaBelle
"Music on a Short Thin Wire"
CD
$8.00
Ground Fault Recordings (U.S.)
GF015
"Each track of 'Music on a Short Thin Wire' was produced by using two of the first eight CD releases by Ground Fault Recordings [Zipper Spy, Eric La Casa, Radiosonde, Government Alpha, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Lockweld, Jazzkammer and Crawl Unit]. Choosing the discs in order of their release dates, I played two CDs simultaneously through separate players, and separate channels, splitting the CDs to a single speaker (one CD left, the other right). Using the speakers themselves as the main sound source - the paper cone - I attached short thin copper wires to their surfaces. I then attached the other end of the wires directly to contact microphones. Playing the CDs activated the speakers, and in turn caused the wires to vibrate. These vibrations in essence are direct 'sympathetic' translations of the dynamic fluctuations of the music being played, though respond quite erratically. The following tracks are excerpts from these recordings; each track refers to two specific CDs." - Brandon LaBelle.

Brandon LaBelle
"Techné"
CD
$13.00
A Bruit Secret (France)
ABS 04
exploration of textures within sound similar to his work with Id Battery. "Brandon LaBelle lives and works in LA. A musician, performer, critic, sound artist, publisher, he stands at the crossroads of various artistic disciplines, mixing his practices in a singular work articulating sound and social space. Through his use of contact mikes, the human body turns into a complex sound source, and the space where the action takes place becomes a musical instrument by itself. Brandon LaBelle builds his sound performance to reflect the site and the objects he finds there, found-art seen as a highly conceptual reasoning as well as a play in improvisation. The music of Brandon LaBelle reveals the social context in which it exists, or more precisely, it's the context itself that is designated as a musical event, through the displacement of the concept of authorship on an active social space. 'Techné' presents itself like the trace of a process where the physical body interacts with architecture via micro contacts. The technology is the interface of this contact built both on desire and the architectural constraint of the place (and its subconscious). A recording of Situationist poetry where the politics project gives its shape to the musical project, a radical noise. (translation : Pascal Rivoire)" - label description.

Brandon LaBelle
"Text Equals CD"
CD
$12.00
Errant Bodies (U.S.)
EB01.00
"This collection of recordings attempts to straddle that line between a semiotic wandering and a lexical return, between sputtering and speaking, noise and discourse, vocalizing and articulating, a line along which subjectivity oscillates." - from the liner notes. collects various text and voice based pieces, some of which previously appeared on cassettes. packaged in gatefold card sleeve with 12 page booklet.

Eric La Casa
"Voyage en Arbonie - Jephan de Villiers"
CD
$23.00
Collection Mémoires (France)
Mémoires CD2
"radio portrait (in french). After Roger Lorance ('le temple de l'absurde'), a portrait in three parts of Jephan de Villiers by Eric La Casa, in the forext of Soignes and in his house at Jolymont, Watermael-Boistfort, Bruxelles. With the collaboration of: Jean-Dominique Burton, Simon du Chastel, Prosper, Claude Roffat, and Michele Swennen. Voices: Rene Farabet and Eric La Casa. Texts: Jacques Brosse, Emmanuel Driant, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Rainer Maria Rilke, Henri Ronse, and Jephan de Villiers. Musics: 'Avant l'envol' (excerpt), and 'Petit chariot ailé' by Catherine Brisset (Baschet's cristal), 'Fragments de mémoire part 1 & 2' by Eric La Casa (coproduction Studio La Grande Fabrique, Dieppe). Mixing : September - November 1996. Production: L'Atelier de Creation Radiophonique, France Culture (1996-97). New version: July 2000. Timing : 77'09. Limited edition: 200 copies. Boitier papier luxueux format 16 x 16 cm. Special paper box."

Brett Larner / Burkhard Stangl / Taku Sugimoto
"Compositions for Guitars"
CD
$19.00
A Bruit Secret (France)
ABS103
a three way split CD showcasing unique approaches to guitar playing. koto player Brett Larner starts off the disc with a 21 minute recording of "m-7 / 21-2" where 21 players (including Anne Hege, Joel Pickard, John Dieterich, John Shiurba, Jonathan Segel, Myles Boisen and Tadashi Usami) create very high pitched tones from steel-string acoustic guitars that glide together in an unearthly drone that you would swear was electronic if you didn't know better. next is Taku Sugimoto's "Hum" which calls for the group to not play the strings or create feedback, but simply explore the hum from guitar pickups. this minimal piece is performed by Tetuzi Akiyama, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Yoshihide Otomo, Keith Rowe, Burkhard Stangl and Sugimoto. last come three pieces by Austrian Burkhard Stangl for steelstring and Spanish guitars that explore detuning. each starts in a standard enough form, one even using motifs from John Dowland. however, as they progress they are further and further pulled away from tonality. the first two cases going far enough to become rattles of loosen strings (in the second case being helped by Taku Sugimoto). each artist also has one page in the booklet to illustrate their scores. a great collection.

Francisco López
"Live in Auckland"
CD
$13.00
Monotype Records (Poland)
mono017
ever advancing his sound, López begins this disc with deep rumblings and a slow subterranean pulse yet breaks new territory for himself by introducing a symphony of ticking noises then drifting away in diaphanous tone which build to a massive but sudden ending. the whole is presented in a heavy blanket with the impact of sound design in contemporary films. recorded live at the School of Creative and Performing Arts Auckland, New Zealand, 11/07/2004 by Paul Winstanley (Sci-Hi).

Francisco López
"Wind [Patagonia]"
CD
$10.00
and/OAR (U.S.)
and/27
"and/OAR couldn't be more pleased to present the third part of Spanish sound artist Francisco López's already classic 'trilogy of the Americas' which started with La Selva, followed by Buildings [New York] (both released by V2 Archief, Netherlands). An immersion into the sonic matter from micro- and macro- environments dominated by wind in Patagonia. A vast barren space shaped and inhabited by the ever-changing forces of unmuted plants, rocks, sand, snow, and ice. An irregular broad-band environment of relentless strength and richness. And above all, a tour de force of profound listening. 'López’s Patagonian winds have a ferocious beauty and immensity. Delicate whispers combine with wild swarms and eddies undergirded by deep bass punches. And all of this produced by an invisible force that endlessly sweeps the surface of the globe. With this, we are no longer in the tidy world of human music, but have entered the sublime domain of natural sound.' (Christoph Cox). Packaged in a super gloss digipak with 16 page booklet." - label description.

Norman Lowrey
"Spirit Dreams: Stories of the Singing Masks"
CDR
$11.00
Deep Listening Publications (U.S.)
DL11-2000
"Second of the River Sounding Trilogy, Spirit Dreams is a branch of 'riverdream through us', wherein the masks which function as guides for that ceremony (an other masks) tell their individual dream stories a a further way to enter the mind(s) of the non-human realm. This work is for recited texts (live and/or recorded), sampled sounds of the Delaware River environs initiated by a real-time complex-dynamic (fractal) computer interface program, and the singing masks, set in a context of ceremonial dream time participation by all present. This edition was recorded at Ione's Dream Festival with Ione narrating." - label description.

Maciunas Ensemble
"Number Made Audible"
CD
$23.00
Het Apollohuis (Netherlands)
ACD 039211
droning music made with duochords, spring strings, musical bows, guitars with tails, and tubular aluminum monochords. the group was founded in 1968 by Paul Panhuysen and Jan van Riet. this 1993 release features recordings made from March 1988 and November 1990 with a quartet filled out by Leon van Noorden (joined 1971) and Mario van Horrik (joined 1982). a limited edition of 1000 copies; packaged in a three-panel Digipak with enclosed 12-page booklet explaining the various instruments made by the ensemble.

Christian Marclay & Otomo Yoshihide
"Moving Parts"
CD
$12.00
Asphodel (U.S.)
asp2001
"Christian Marclay is well known for using damaged & re-assembled recordings to create his music. He has put out many solo recordings over the years. Otomo Yoshihide is one of Japan's best known experimental musicians today. He led the experimental band Ground Zero in the 80s and has played with Fred Frith, John Rose, Jim O'Rourke, Carl Stone & Bob Ostertag. The two create an intense, noisy tapestry of sound, encompassing a wide range of sources -- from the baroque-sounding flute and harpsichord snippet that opens the CD to squalls of Hendrix-flavored guitar, opera, flamenco, movie soundtrack music, and purely electronic sound. Marclay firmly favors the analog, intentionally letting his records get scratched and even gluing pieces of vinyl together, while Yoshihide employs mainly digital methods. The combination is potent and compelling. Unlike a lot of the people identified with turntablist world, they never go for laughs with sharply contrasting stylistic juxtapositions or the ironic use of spoken-word records. Sometimes the source materials are pummeled and entirely reshaped, and other times a melodic quotation will stand out untreated; the results are at times reminiscent of Stockhausen's 'Hymnen' or Eric Salzman's 'Nude Paper Sermon.'" - label description.

Elio Martusciello
"Aesthetics of the Machine"
CD
$15.00
Bowindo (Italy)
Bowindo 01
Bowindo is a new Italian label founded by Alessandro Bosetti, Giuseppe Ielasi, Elio Martusciello, Renato Rinaldi, Domenico Sciajno, and Valerio Tricoli. "Composed between December 1999 and January 2000. The musical research that I have undertaken goes beyond man's 'point of listening' (instead of 'point of view') to experiment what could be defined as the machine's 'point of listening' (the aesthetic of the machine). Therefore it is an aesthetic that privileges a 'beyond-feeling', the meeting with the 'outerness', with the 'totally-out'. The audio frequency field of this work is beyond the possibilities of our 'perceptions'; it is in fact in the range of the 'ultrasounds' (up to 20kHz) and the infrasounds (down to 16Hz). Throughout this work the sounds were generated at the maximum volume available for digital systems (0dB). Therefore this composition is totally full, saturated, without dynamics, with a volume level consistently turned up to 'fortissimo' (classical notation), just outside the range of human perception. What remains for our hearing? Only silence? However all that we perceive in this work is entirely the result of what has been discarded, the driftage, the limits of technology and our auditory apparatus; anything that springs out of those interferences, from those collisions, the clashes of those hyper-frequencies, their results, the difficulties and the noises of the sound-reproduction system (amplifiers, loudspeakers, filters, etc.) actually produced by the surrounding space (those objects that vibrate), our very own auditory apparatus and body (often it is not our ear but our whole body that feels and vibrates)." - Elio Martusciello.

Kaffe Matthews, Andrea Neumann and Sachiko M
"In Case of Fire Take the Stairs"
CD
$13.00
Improvised Music from Japan (Japan)
IMJ503
"Kaffe Matthews: laptop; Andrea Neumann: inside piano; Sachiko M: sinewaves, contact microphones. Kaffe Matthews created her sound by live-sampling and processing her own and the other musicians' sounds as they played. Recorded live directly onto DAT by Kiyoshi Takahashi, at Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo, on March 17, 2002."

M.B.
"Maurizio Bianchi Plays the Clockwork Orange"
LP
$40.00
Marquis Recs (Italy)
MART05
long out of print archival recordings by M.B. packaged in plain white sleeve with paste on color foil image initialed by M.B.; inside the record is wrapped in a sheet of silver foil which is rubber stamped and numbered inside. "While producing the second ArcheoMB boxset (including the CD edition of 5 original M.B. LP records from the early 1980s: 'Das Testament'; 'Endometrio'; 'Carcinosi'; 'The Plain Truth' and 'Armaghedon'), the documentation staff working on the Maurizio Bianchi reprint series came across a very strange and peculiar object. It was a private tape dating back from 1980, never mentioned in official discographies and given only to close friends (this copy actually coming from the archive of mail-artist Vittore Baroni). The music was introducing a unique approach in MB sound. It was soon evident that this tape marked the passage from the Sacher-pelz concrete techniques to the new M.B. universe; the loop brutal approach applied to poor & pure electronic sounds and concrete material, so typical in Sacher-pelz projects (see full documentation presented in 'Mutation for a Continuity' 4 CD boxset) was here pushed to its extreme consequences and used to manipulate the soundtrack of the famous movie by Stanley Kubrick, 'A Clockwork Orange' (it is whispered that some Kraftwerk records also suffered the same treatment, but evidences of this were never found). In the same days M.B. also produced his first power electronic tapes titled 'Cold', 'Voyeur' and the epic double C90 'Mectpyo Blut' which set the new orientation to all his following works. 'M.B. plays A Clockwork Orange' was a unique moment in Maurizio Bianchi sonic researches and is made now available for the very first time; the first LP record by M.B. issued in about 20 years! Due to the specific kind of material reproduced it was decided with M.B. to issue these historical recordings in an edition limited to 300 copies only." - label description.

M.B.
"Regel"
CD
$12.00
EEs'T (Italy)
5MB005
reissue of private LP in an edition of 300 copies in 1982. "his experimentation with noise syndrome has developed into a powerful stylistic electronic music that is coherent and dynamic. a dense synthetic melange sets the backdrop over which he uses various rhythms/effects to achieve maximum intensity." includes bonus track "Acido Prussio" from the "Neuengamme" compilation LP.

Roel Meelkop + Toy Bizarre
"4 Pieces"
CD
$12.00
Kaon (France)
oc99
a collection of delicate electracoustic compositions based around field recordings. of the four pieces, one is by Roel solo, one by Roel with Toy Bizarre and the last 2 by Toy Bizarre alone. very carefully composed and full of rich detail these range from the small sounds to forceful.

Merzbow
"Maschinenstil"
CD
$10.00
Dual Plover (Australia)
COQ-ROQ
"'Stormy Monday' was a title taken from first track of Lee Michaels album (A&M 1969), cause this composition is looks cluster organ sound! this organ sound was made by 5 oscillators unit, ring modulator and of 20 pitch shifters and enhancer, limiter, drum sound which sampled on 1 second sampling delay was taken from Terry Bozzio drum solo on 'Hands With Hammer' which featured on Frank Zappa 'You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol.3 (Zappa Records). I was very liked that drum sound. so, recently I often used Bozzios sampling on stage as previous European tour. 'Shin Kawasaki' was inspired from landscape of Shin-Kawasaki industrial city. I recognized this station first time when I back from Yokosuka by fast train of Yokosuka line. I used drum machine (TR606). also used EXD electro drum kit for bass sound. these equipments are sound very techno pop in early 80s. my composition was inspired from equipments too." - Masami Akita.

Merzbow
"Puroland"
CD
$12.00
[Ohm] (Norway)
0.9 ohm
recordings from 2001, which to my ears sound like a return to his early composition style, which in my opinion is his best work. cover by Lasse Marhaug.

Misère et Cordes
"Au Ni Kita"
CD
$13.00
Potlatch (France)
P 101
a French quartet of guitarists (Pascal Battus, Emmanuel Petit, Dominique Répécaud and Camel Zekri) recorded in 1999. "Created in 1998, Misère et Cordes is one of the rarest guitar quartet in the world to play uncompromising music. Truly non-idiomatic and is played by widely experienced musicians with multiple trajectories. From experimental music with Pascal Battus and contemporary music with Emmanuel Petit, to avant-rock with Dominique Répécaud and traditional music with Camel Zekri." - label description. includes English 'liner notes' by Keith Rowe, which are essentially a type of poetry listing off words, and French notes by Laurent Dailleau.

Gavin M. Mitchell
"Bleeding Time"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOL120CD
"'Bleeding Time' is a specially selected and remastered collection of work commissioned by Franko B. Including a gorgeous 4 page booklet of photos by Manuel Vasson and Franko B, this isn't a definitive documentary history, more like edited highlights. The pieces featured are of the more 'ambient' variety, though not all. I think the soundwork alone manages to capture some of the variety and edginess of the performances. Franko's work has caused much controversy around the world. His spectacles of risk and bloodletting attract critical praise and revulsion in just about equal measure. Not geared to shock, that's just a byproduct, FB's work is rather more concerned with making beauty from the unbearable. The remains change!" - label description. Mitchell is also a member of The Amal Gamal Ensemble alongside Karl Blake, David Knight, Stephen Thrower and others. Thrower has done the sleeve layout for this release, and the music is not far from the dark territory as Cyclobe.

Roscoe Mitchell
"Four Compositions"
CD
$12.00
Lovely Music, Ltd (U.S.)
LCD 2021
notated and improvised ensemble works by founding member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. includes "Nonaah" for flute, bassoon & piano; "Duet for Wind & String" for violin and alto saxophone; "Cutouts" for wind quintet; and "Prelude" for voice, bass saxophone, contrabass, sarrusophone, and triple contrabass viol. performers include Robert Cole, Richard Lottridge, Joan Wildman, Vartan Manoogian, Roscoe Mitchell, Wingra Woodwind Quintet, Tom Buckner, Gerald Oshita, and Brian Smith. "Roscoe Mitchell's innovations as a solo performer, his role in the resurrection of long-neglected woodwind instruments of extreme register, and his reassertion of the composer into what has traditionally been an improvisational form, have placed him at the forefront of contemporary music for over twenty years. Delicate as to texture, dispassionate as to mood, these mostly notated woodwind, string, and piano chamber works are atonal, but collapse into tonal cadences." - label description.

Luca Miti
"Mansions"
CDR
$10.00
Ants (Italy)
ant01cdr
"Luca Miti in his works tends to put himself in relation to the sound, searching for the interaction between sound and environment and, more important, between the capability to produce a sound and to receive it. Some 'theatre' music - raw excerpts of sparse and subtle electronic sounds (for 'E non mi resta che restare solo'). The audio component of the 'sound installation' - 'Mens Conlcusa' - a loop with scratching and clicking sounds and mutant voices. The electronic interaction between two performers (Miti itself and the long time fellow Francesco Michi) in the long 'Giocattoli' (Toys) - a sparse sound ambient due to the use of small, low-fi live electronics and 'anachronistic' electronic sounds. The sound flux (again from Michi and Miti) that design the time-space of a specific place, in 'II° Progetto per la regolamentazione e l'ordinamento dei flussi estetici per la comunità di Topolò 2001'. And then, to close, the soundtrack for another theatrical piece 'Immaginate la notte', modeled on Massenet and pregnant of a lyrical atmosphere, that finally flows in a tonal ending for accordion, amusing counterpart for a work that well represent, even if in a fragmented way, the sounding universe of the author." - label description.

Kiyoshi Mizutani
"At Lethe.Voice Festival"
CDR
$11.00
Denshi Zatsuon / MSBR Records (Japan)
DZ-CDR009
"Japanese import of live sound manipulation, found sound, electronics, noise, samples, mixed together by one of Japan's more interesting sonic scientists. Recorded live at the annual Lethe.Voice Festival in 2001." - label description.

Andreas Mniestris
"Some Pieces"
CD
$15.00
Simona Sarchi (Canada)
SSACD 02801
"He was born in 1956 in Piraeus. After graduating in Physics he began studying Music, soon to be attracted by Musique Concrete while, at the same time, his interest in free improvisation increased. He continued his studies in Electroacoustic Music in Paris with Horracio Vaggione and later at Mills College in California with Larry Polansky, Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley. At Mills he has also studied composition with Anthony Braxton. After an internship as Audio Associate at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada he returned to Greece in 1991. Since 1994, he has lived in Corfu where he teaches Electroacoustic Music and Recording Techniques at the Music Department of Ionian University. The CD contains five electroacoustic pieces made with his technique of improvising tape using multiple loudspeaker spatialization systems. 'Trane' is a composition made with the idea to create a music project as result of the feelings that another music caused. In this particular piece, the source of inspiration was the music of John Coltrane in its entirety. The capacity, surprise, lyricism and spirituality are some of the parameters of Coltrane's music which are expressed with the alphabet of Music Concrete." - Anastasis Grivas.

M.N.S.
"Incredible Noise Guitar"
CD
$15.00
NS (Japan)
PAL-MNS
two pieces of electric 'noise' guitar, one of which is dedicated to Motoharu Yoshizawa. pure, unrelenting harsh noise from this solo unit that also had a 7" lathe cut released by MSBR Records. the person behind this project, Naoaki Miyamoto, has also collaborated with Kawabata Makoto.

Meredith Monk
"Key"
CD
$12.00
Lovely Music, Ltd (U.S.)
LCD 1051
wildly bizarre vocalizations backed by electric organ, Jews' harp, and mrdingam. "Meredith Monk, voice, organ, Jews' harp; Daniel Ira Sverdlik, Dick Higgins, Collin Walcott, Lanny Harrison, Mark Berger, voices. This recording contains Meredith Monk's earliest compositions for voice. The songs that make up 'Key' were composed and performed in a 3-year period between 1967 and 1970, when Monk collected them into this 45-minute 'invisible theater' experience." - label description. "In 'Key' I wanted to create a constantly shifting ambience. Each song dealt with a different vocal character, landscape, technical concern or emotional quality. I was trying for a visceral, kinetic song form that had the abstract qualities of a painting or a dance. I knew that I didn't want to set music to a text; for me, the voice itself was a language which seemed to speak more eloquently than words. I chose certain phonemes for their particular sound qualities. In a sense, each song became a world in itself with its own timbre, texture and impulse." - Meredith Monk

Alfredo Costa Monteiro
"Anatomy of Inner Place"
CD
$13.00
Monotype Records / Astipalea (Poland)
mono016 / ast#0029
a micro-noise symphony of drones and buzzes from this up and coming Spanish artist. "All the sound sources are part of Alfredo Costa Monteiro's domestic environment. Every sound is used here as it was recorded with no electronic effects or processing except for dynamics. Some sounds result from acoustic combinations of other sounds." - label description.

Gen Ken Montgomery
"Pondfloorsample"
2 x CD
$11.00
Experimental Intermedia (U.S.)
XI 126
"These two discs represent some of Gen Ken Montgomery's sound art and compositional work from 1981-2001. Pondfloorsample is a collection of sonic explorations utilizing common devices meant to hold something other than sound. As with much of his sound work, the sonic material contains many sounds of everyday life. Having composed extensively for multi-channels, Pondfloorsample was specifically designed as a stereo audio piece enabling Montgomery to reach a larger audience. His work always begins with listening to the world. He works within processes, defining a set of conditions by which a piece will unfold itself. Sometimes he takes the familiar - sounds of icebreakers, radiators, laminators, egg slicers, bath drains, etc. - amplifying their familiarity, all the time asking us to hear the world a little differently. Other times he constructs a vapor of mesmerizing sound that is entirely disassociated with things that you know or instruments that can be visualized. These are sounds that you can see. He has a Cagian appreciation of ambient noise. Although never a formal 'student' of the academic 'New York School' - the tradition of Cage and Tudor followed by Lucier, Behrman, Mumma, Collins, Kuivila, DeMarinis and others - he is an influential artist in this field. He created his own school, so to speak, of do-it-yourself electronics, assimilating the works of the aforementioned artists and complementing them with his own inside experience of New York performance music. And then there is the bridge he makes to European techno roots; his longtime friendship with Conrad Schnitzler and frequent audio projects for German audiences and galleries. He listens, assimilates, creates, and paints new experiences with sound." - Thom Holmes (from the liner notes) .

Thurston Moore & Marco Fusinato
"TM / MF"
CD EP
$14.00
Freewaysound (Australia)
FREEWAYSOUND 002
"TM / MF is a collaborative project for an exhibition. Thurston Moore entered the studio and improvised ten tracks w/ guitar, shoving it against an amp, laying it on the floor, sliding a bottle up and down the strings, among other methods of producing sound. Not only were the songs recorded but Moore was also videotaped to display this part of the process as an element of the installation. For his part Fusinato placed a piece of primed masonite on the floor, poured his signature red paint on it, and picked up various implements found in the studio as painting tools (a brush, roller, plastic bag, cheap brushes tied together and a plastic bottle) and created a distinct painting for each track, allowing himself only the duration of each track top cover the surface. the resulting tracks/paintings area tangible testament to attitude. Devoid of decoration and conventional technique they area testament to the simple and direct actions used to produce them. CD features the 10 tracks recorded by Thurston Moore and comes with a 24 page color booklet with track by track images demonstrating the process and wraparound page with installation image." - label description.

m/s
"Perturbation Field and the Equilibrium"
CD
$35.00
WrK (Japan)
WrK002mlt
installation using fluorescent lamps and electro-magnetic field. very minimal static sound. numbered edition of 300. original graphic cover, text sheets, signed.

Günter Müller
"Eight Landscapes"
CD
$12.00
For 4 Ears Records (Switzerland)
CD1445
German born percussionist Müller, who has been living in Switzerland since the age of 12, first came to prominence as a member of Nachtluft and running the label For 4 Ears. very active on the international improvised music scene, Müller has collaborated with a diverse array of talent. most pertinent to this disc though is his collaborations with Voice Crack under the name poire_z. though still credited as playing selected percussion, as well as MDs, iPod, electronics, and processing, this album focuses on subtle shifting timbre of wavering and crackling sounds. meant to evoke eight landscapes seen from the airplane during a flight from Colorado Springs to Chicago, the pieces here are wide open and spacious. this CD is a refined version of what has been heard on his collaborative discs on Erstwhile.

Müller Voice Crack O'Rourke
"Table, Chair, and Hatstand"
CD
$12.00
For 4 Ears Records (Switzerland)
CD 820
the quartet of Günter Müller (drums and electronics), Jim O'Rourke (guitar, piano and electronics), Norbert Möslang and Andy Guhl - (both on cracked everyday electronics) met at Zack Studio, St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1996 to record this. in contrast to Müller & O'Rourke's duet recorded two years earlier, this album is much more subtle blending layers of strange sounds, buzzing noises, irregular pulses and distant rumblings into 5 organic tracks that are a beautiful expansion on the Voice Crack sound.

Roberto Musci / Chris Cutler / Jon Rose / Claudio Gabbiano
"Steel Water Light"
CD
$16.00
ReR Megacorp (England)
ReR RMGC
sampler, electrified percussion, processing, tenor violin, acoustic and electric guitars. "Music made originally for three short silent films by Joris Ivens, Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler performed as part of a music and film festival in Milan; here re-mastered, edited and reorganised for listening. Hard to describe, but it straddles the ground between composed and improvised, atmospheric and graphic music, with emphasis on colour, atmosphere and structure." - label description.

Muslimgauze
"Veiled Sisters Remix"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOL105CD
"Veiled Sisters was first released by Soleilmoon as a double CD in 1993 (SOL 20 CD). It was received with great acclaim at the time, and is still enjoying steady sales nearly ten years later. Bryn Jones, a.k.a. Muslimgauze, recorded a follow-up in 1996, in which he reworked and recycled the materials into another album. It was delivered to Soleilmoon more as an afterthought than something he intended us to issue. 'Veiled Sisters Remix', as the piece was called, was held back from release at Bryn's request, with the reason being given generally that he wanted us to release something else that was 'newer and better', in his words. Now more than three years after his death, and with the continued consent of his family, we are pleased to finally be able to issue this forgotten gem of music. It's typical of its period, a time in which his work was reaching a creative zenith, but it stands out for it's unusual use of a single album as its source. In the time between the original 'Veiled Sisters' and the 'Remix' Bryn acquired and mastered the use of nearly all of the professional studio equipment that was so important to his later works. With this version he felt that he'd finally achieved the true vision of the album that he'd set out to record three years previously. 'Veiled Sisters Remix' was designed by Alexander Baumgardt, the noted German designer who designed 'Hummus'. Both CDs have a similar appearance at first glance, but they are in fact two distinctly different albums." - label description. Digipak.

Mux Trio
CD
$14.00
AufRuhr Records (Germany)
ART CD 004
Lesley Olson (flutes), Olaf Pyras (drums and short-wave radio) and Michael Vorfeld (percussion and inside piano) present a lively sound with the energy and exploration of free improvisation. they perform "Here and There" by Stuart Saunders Smith and "Ryoanji" by John Cage as well as compositions by themselves and a trio of pieces based on Herbert Brün's "Floating Hierarchies - Trio 16.a.3". recorded in 1996, this release predates some of the better known works by Vorfeld on trente oiseaux, Rossbin, Esquilo, Creative Sources and Non Visual Objects. Olson has appeared on various recordings of works by Harry Partch, Johannes Fritsch, and Herbert Brün.

Seiji Nagai + a
"Electronic Noise Improvisation 1999"
CD
$16.00
Doppelganger Records (Japan)
DPCD-02
Seiji Nagai was an original member of the legendary Taj Mahal Travellers alongside Takehisa Kosugi, Michihiro Kimura, Tokio Hasegawa, Ryo Koike, Yukio Tsuchiya and Kinji Hayashi. born in 1948, he was the youngest member of the group, but still an essential member. during TMT's existence from 1969 to 1976, Nagai primary played trumpet, though like the others also performed on supplementary instruments such as harmonica and Mini-Korg. after the dissolution of Taj Mahal Travellers Nagai took up Indian music, apparently relocating to India for extended period of time, and, like the other members of TMT aside from Kosugi, disappeared from the world of recorded works. however, in 1999 he reappeared in Japan, now using the facilities of the computer to create new cosmic music. this disc is the only document of his post-TMT activities, aside from a pair of compilation tracks and a guest appearance on a Koichi Watanabe CD. in fact this CD seems to be the work of Watanabe, a much younger musician known for his solo synthesizer works recorded in the late 1970's released on CD on this label. the present recording finds Nagai and Watanabe improvising with fellow travelers Koji Kawai and Minoru Yonemoto at the Doppelganger Studio in Tokyo on March 21, 1999. using various electronics, computer, turntable, CDJ, piano and electronic mandolin the quartet conjure up drifting cosmic electronic soundscapes which hint at the mood of TMT. electronic sounds slowly swell and echo while very low in the mix are piano improvisation and manipulated voices from records. the fourth and final track, which clocks in at 22 minutes, seems to be a solo recording of Nagai from August of the same year which strips the sound down. here the music is closer to later electroacoustic music as the wash of sound contains sounds perverted by computer tricky while remaining very subdued. produced in a limited edition of 500 copies back in 1999, this seems to be long out of print now.

Kazunao Nagata
"The World of Electronic Sound 3"
CD
$21.00
Zero Gravity (Japan)
ZGV-019
Kazunao is the founder of the label Zero Gravity which releases the new electronic sounds of Crystal Fist, Dub Sonic Roots, Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, I.S.O., Utah Kawasaki, Masaaki Kikuchi, Toshimaru Nakamura, Nerve Net Noise, Strange Garden, Tagomago, Tamaru, Temdendam Suay, and Trio Rakant on CD in the latter half of the 1990's. among the other artists were 4 discs by Nagata himself in "The World of Electronic Sound" series. this third volume features 12 short tracks created with the ARP-2600 and Roland System 100M analog synthesizers created during 1998 and 1999. as a bonus, he has included a longer 13th track recorded in 1985 with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 and Korg Poly-800.

Nahe der Stille
"Konzert in Goch, Den 17.12.1995"
CDR
$14.00
STAA Production (Germany)
STAA 0001
this 66 minute concert is the result of a three day workshop at ArToll (Bedbug-Hau) with 12 musicians improvising from silence and using that as a recurring point of reference. a largely quiet affair with various instruments slowly creeping in and adding their subtle textures and occasionally building into some more cacophonous peaks. the performers are Claus van Bebber (water gong and percussion), Karl van Betteraey (contrabass), Clemens Drissen (accordion), Wilfied Grootens (trumpet and didgeridoo), Barbara Hahn (sound sculpture), Stephan Katzy (didgeridoo and percussion), Werner Koenen (oboe and flugelhorn), Friedhelm Olfen (church organ), Ron Schmidt (saxophone and percussion), Jürgen Slojewski (concert guitar), Jochen Vogel (metal and didgeridoo), and Michael Vorfeld (percussion).

Toshimaru Nakamura
"No Input Mixing Board [3]"
CD
$16.00
Alcohol (England)
ALTN1CD
"Solo works for feedback from the prodigious Toshimaru Nakamura, who organises Japan's influential Meeting At Off Site concert series. Live and studio work displaying the depth and variety of Toshi's always gripping approach to abstraction and evocation of the disembodied muse. A great, moving din! Artwork is by the baroque/psychedelic installation artist and designer Keita Egami, who was the artist in residence on the 'Japanorama' tour of England curated by Otomo Yoshihide." - label description.

Nappe
"lp / tic"
CD
$15.00
SMI (France)
NM 211
glitchy electronic with more vitality than the usual fair as the duo play with guitar, electronics, turntable and sampler, on two tracks actually improvised directly to DAT. in matte recycled paper sleeve.

Seth Nehil
"Tracing the Skins of Clouds"
CD
$11.00
Kaon (France)
ao98
"The debut release from US sound artist Seth Nehil uses recordings of wood, stone, glass and metal in natural acoustic spaces to create organic tape-compositions. Without the use of effects or electronics, these sounds are layered into complex unfolding explorations of micro-tonalities and the interaction of sound-bodies in spaces. Surfaces are activated through dragging, scraping and rubbing, revealing shifting forms within a turbulence of dynamic darkly-colored sound clouds. Seth Nehil has been working with sound for eight years, for the past four he has been a collaborator with Erg (including MNortham and JGrzinich) and Alial Straa in studio and performance work. 'Tracing the Skins of Clouds' is one result of a continuing dialogue within the Orogenetics collective, along with 'The Absurd Evidence' by JGrzinich/MNortham on Bobby J (USA). Seth Nehil currently resides in Austin TX where he also works on paintings and writing and contributes to N D magazine." - label description.

9!
"none (-t)"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD54
"Improvisations with nine musicians in rotating combinations of players, which is represented by the play and re-ordering of each piece's title (anagrammatical plays on the word 'Nonet', a word originally intended to be the project's moniker). Over 73 minutes of complex improvisations, with Nathaniel Catchpole (tenor sax / elk calls), Jamie Coleman (trumpet), Alex James (piano), Ross Lambert (guitar / pocket trumpet / preparations), John Lely (piano), Sebastian Lexer (piano / computer), Marianthi Papalexandri (moving objects), Eddie Prévost (percussion), and Seymour Wright (alto sax)." - Monica.

Hermann Nitsch
"7. Sinfonie"
2 x CD
$30.00
? Records (Germany)
?02
just over two hours of intense symphonic work from the master of Viennese Aktionist performance. no blood was spilled as the October 19, 1985 premiere at the Steirischer Herbst festival in Graz, Austria, but the music easily evokes the power of Nitsch's Aktions. performed by Süd Ost Sinfonieorchester and Grazer Studentenchor, the music ranges from the swells commonly associated with orchestral works to sections of noises performed on whistles and other noisemakers which bring to mind a beautiful pandemonium. originally released as a a double cassette on Dieter Roth's Verlag in an edition of 200 copies, and long out of print, Armin Hundertmark's ? Records series of reissues finally made this music more available in this double CD edition of 530 copies [100 signed and numbered copies; 30 copies with linen with blood from an action, signed; and 400 regular copies - these are the regular copies] in 2000. at this point, only the expensive special editions are available directly from the label, so this is a last chance to pick up a copy of the more affordable regular edition before this too becomes an expensive collector's item.

No Neck Blues Band
"Intonomancy"
CD
$11.00
Sound @ One (U.S.)
s@1#64
I still think that NNCK are unparalleled in the world of free floating experimental rock tribal freak folk or whatever you want to call it. they transcend the recent crop of bands from around the world that stumble through acoustic soundscapes. don't get me wrong, there are some great things out there, but NNCK seem to rise to the top always with a magic sound that comes together so skillfully while being able to easily plumb the depths of the laid back groove and/or clatter as well as full on burst of aggressive energy. these 2002 recordings made by frequent collaborator Matt Szwed is like the best of instrumental experimental easy going acid folk and cosmic Krautrock, with only a hint of vocals later in the disc. as a 7 piece band, the members of plenty of room to flesh out the details making a rich and full sound which is never too crowded. highly recommended.

No Neck Blues Band
"Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt Me"
CD
$10.00
Sound @ One (U.S.)
s@1#50
the late John Fahey was a fan of The No-Neck Blues Band and even performed on stage with them. they were one of three artists he asked to do releases of new music by on his Revenant label. the other two were Sir Richard Bishop and Jim O'Rourke, while the rest of the output of this esteemed label was reissues of older recordings. for their CD release, NNCK hand made a beautiful package which was quickly snapped. sadly Fahey passed away the same year this NNCK release came out and Dean Blackwood, who helped Fahey run Revenant, wasn't so hot on NNCK. so the title went quickly out of print. that was a rather unfortunately thing as this was particularly fine NNCK recording. for this album they enlisted Jerry Yester as producer and worked in his Willow Sound studio. though people often remember Yester as a member of 1960's pop band The Lovin' Spoonful, I think NNCK enlisted him more on the merits of his "Farewell Aldebaran" LP with Judy Henske released in 1970 on Frank Zappa's Straight label, a classic of acid folk. certainly there are some tuneful moments on here with actual songs, but No Neck take the psychedelic folk idea to the extremes creating some lovely acoustic explorations in sound which go further to plumb the depth of inner space. coincidentally, this was apparently their last recording as an octet, as John Fell Ryan not long after left the group to explore different directions in the group Excerpter. anyhow, with the original labor intensive version out of print, exchanging money for high prices, and difficult to reproduce, the band thankfully reissued the music in an affordable jewel case edition keeping this music available. it's more musical than their other outing, but still pretty out and really fantastic record. "the No Neck Blues Band, adrift in the ozone-tinged air of lower & upper Manhattan for nearly a ghost decade, stood at a fork. to one side lay the path to continued avoidance of human contact, and lifetimes of hemeretic improvisational events. to the other side was the trail into a kind of new free-pub-fat-rock dynamism, attaching the head of Lou Gare to the body of Martin Stone. which way they would go was never predictable. the myriad recordings & performances that No Neck produced during their first half-life existed more in the realm of spirit than of flesh. even those who witnessed the performances or beheld the recordings had difficulty in ultimately grasping them. the faces of No Neck were transitory, in all senses of the word. rock gesture, drone gesture, folk gesture, improv gesture, all of them traced smoky features across the band's collective visage, shifting like a big cloud of burned & exhaled cheeb. by the time No Neck hooked up w/ John Fahey, their image was fractal. unable to hold -- or even define -- their center, fragmentation itself had become their milieu. through records, they had discovered someone they believed to be a fellow traveler in Jerry Yester. when they found out that he had a studio in the Ozarks, they were on the first bus south. and when they came to the fork, they took it. Fahey smiled on this in his own weird way & here are the results. they have been in the process of becoming for longer than you can probably appreciate. dig them now." - Byron Coley, Deerfield MA 2001

Arne Nordheim
"Dodeka"
CD
$15.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2030
first release of great historic electronic music recorded with technical assistance from Eugeniuz Rudnik and Bogdan Mazurek, both of whom have great solo tracks on the "Electronic Music IV" compilation released by Turnabout in 1968. "It is with great joy and honour that we are able to celebrate our 30th release with a new album by one of the most distinguished personalities in Norwegian music. Not only that, 'Dodeka', meaning twelve in Greek, is a small sensation in that the twelve pieces presented here have never been available on record before. These compositions are made from the building blocks and basic elements from Nordheim's work in Warszaw between 1967 and 1972. Considering the primitive working methods and the equipment available at the time, 'Dodeka' is also special in that it's sonic qualities are quite astounding with a clarity and character all of their own." - label description. Digipak.

Arne Nordheim
"Wirklicher Wald • Aurora"
CD
$16.00
Norwegian Composers (Norway)
NCD4910
"Wirklicher Wald" for soprano and cello solo, chorus and orchestra performed by Dorothy Dorow (soprano), Aage Kvalbein (cello), Bergen Cathedral Choir (instructed by Magnar Mangersnes), Bergen Symphony Orchestra and Karsten Andersen. "Aurora" for four singers with antique cymbals and tape performed by Electric Phoenix with electronic realization by Rolf Enstrøm at EMS Stockholm. both were composed in 1983 and published on LP in 1985. this CD version came a year later in 1986. "Aurora is a composition which is somewhere between the acoustic and the electronic world of sound, an area Nordheim has imaginatively experimented with in many of his works. Aurora was composed for the English vocal quartet, Electric Phoenix, who performed the piece for the first time at the Bergen Music Festival on 3 June 1984. Aurora bears the the dedication 'In Memoriam Cathy Berberian'. The text is derived from two highly divergent sources, the Bible, and Dante's immortal work, 'Divina Commedia'. Nordheim uses extracts from Psalm 139 with both Latin and Hebrew texts, as well as the final song from the 'Divina Commedia', 'Paradiso', in Italian. The musical texture of the composition is characterized by the contrast in sound between the quartet's direct presentation of the a conventionally notated piece, and a tape with processed sound material, for the most part vocal, which serves as a modern cantus firmus. The effect produced is that of the quartet singing a duet with itself, as the vocalists use close microphones, making electronic transformation of the vocal sounds possible, while playing at the same time on antique cymbals." - from the liner notes. "A composition often conceives itself in one's own memory. There is a long enigmatic distance, between the birth of ideas and their musical execution. This is particularly true about 'Wirklicher Wald', which has come a long way from its distant origins. In the early 50's the Swedish Radio featured a musical and literary programme 'Night Exercise', which proved an important source of inspiration, introducing the great poets of our time. A programme on Rainer Maria Rilke presented his poem 'Todeserfahrung' from 1908. I immediately saw a sequence of pictures calling for music. I can still hear this calling, still see the pictures, which, throughout the years have resulted in various musical transformations of these rich impulses from Rilke. Three years ago, my musical rendering of Rilke was again on its way: a large scale international collaboration with the distinguished Czech choreographer Jiri Kylian was to include 'Todeserfahrung'. The project was dropped, and a large material of music remained silent. 'Wirklicher Wald' employs this material in a largely adapted form. Together with Rilke's poem, I also include fragments from the Book of Job (14) in Hebrew in the ecstatic exclamations of the soprano soloist against the background of the German chorale. The cello solo is intended as a continuation and reflection of the dramatic and lyrical parts of the soprano and chorus." - Arne Nordheim

Nurse With Wound
"Live at Bar Maldoror"
CD
$30.00
United Dairies (England)
UD034CD
an expanded reissue of the Gyllensköld, Geijerstam & Friends "Live at Bar Maldoror" LP released in 1985 on Mi-Mort and includes bonus tracks from "Drunk with the Old Man of the Mountains" and the "Sinister Senile" EP on Shock. "In our very short spell as a 'live band' Nurse With Wound performed 8 times, 5 in public, between the years 1984-86. These events were shambolic, chaotic and uneven affairs, sometimes as boring for the performers as the non-plussed audiences but at other times reaching an amazing intensity. Some were quite amusing - remember one in particular, a Christmas event in Amsterdam. We had decided no electric lights, just hundreds of candles around the stage and, in amongst the audience (who were busy arranging them in circles) we began. I had a vast array of little noise making objects - toys and things - and I started inviting members of the audience up to help wind the clockwork stuff when suddenly about fifty people descended upon us, all very eager to help. Soon there was no room and we discreetly left the stage to watch the show from the comfort of the bar. Nobody seemed to notice. The audience played very well and some of that gig made it on to this CD, which contains the high points of our Bar Maldoror happenings (sic)." - Steven Stapleton. performers include Ruby Wallis, John Balance, Annie Anxiety, Chris Wallis, David Tibet, Diana Rogerson, Konori, and Tim o' the violin. long out of print World Serpent edition from 1994.

Nurse With Wound
"Salt Marie Celeste"
CD
$30.00
United Dairies (England)
UD104CD
original sealed copies from the first pressing done by World Serpent Distribution. "The all new Nurse With Wound studio album presented in a lavish Digipak format contains one of the most radical pieces the band have ever recorded; similar in concept to Gavin Bryars 'The Sinking of the Titanic'. Salt Marie Celeste delves even deeper into the theme of dropping into unknown darkness and ultimate demise. Recorded by Steven Stapleton and electronic wizard Colin Potter in 2002. This is a landmark recording in the field of contemporary electronic music. Artwork by Ruby Wallis and Babs Santini." - label description. one of the more fantastic of recent NWW recordings.

Carey Nutman
"Contrasts"
CD
$14.00
MPS (U.K.)
MPSCD 001
this 1994 CD was the debut release on Nutman's MPS label which specializes in electroacoustic and computer music. the 11 tracks recorded between 1989 and 1993 range from from classic sweeps of electroacoustic sound to simple melodic minimalism.

Michael Nyvang / Birgitte Alsted
"Planetarium Music"
CD
$14.00
dacapo (Denmark)
8.224083
quadraphonic computer music for planetarium use, remixed for CD. Nyvang's section is a suite of pieces sourcing material from playing the string and sounding board of a piano and then varying the pitch, phase, time parameters and spatialization. the resulting work being a combination of drifts and swelling clanks. Alsted transmutes extended vocal techniques courtesy of Carsten Hobolt with other recorded sounds in a computer treatment based on the Book of Job. slowly building and decaying overlapping mutated sounds which suggest a surreal and mysterious world.

Nzetwork Down
"1/1996/1997"
CD
$14.00
Hasikamke (Japan)
HS12CD01
a pretty obscure release and artist, and seemingly the only release this label did. this CD came out in 1998 and followed a cassette release by the artist on the Hasisic label. the noise collages on here were all created by Miki Naohiko in 1996 and 1997 and have a cut and paste aesthetic, but are not sudden jump cut or blasts of noise. instead they seem to be composed, but remain very abstract and include some very quite stretches of field recordings. Miki was friends with Hatohan and Toyohiro Okazaki of Shida and Dislocation at the time (he even offers some of their releases in a mail order sheet with the CD) and those associations help give a reference to where this music is coming from. a good release that really got overlooked at the time.

Off Ramp
"Off Chance"
CD
$10.00
Ramp Records (U.S.)
CD-5224
"high energy free improvisations that utilize electric string instruments, analog and digital signal processing, computer controlled synthesizers, digital samplers and original electroacoustic instruments. all recordings were made utilizing stereo miking techniques." the trio consists of Tom Nunn, builder of original musical instruments/sound sculptures with non-linear, random and ambiguous elements; electric cellist Doug Carroll who has studied with Stockhausen, Lou Harrison and Braxton; and Jim Hearson: professor, avid improviser, skilled computer programmer and electric violin player.

Nils Økland
"Straum"
CD
$15.00
Rune Grammofon (Norway)
RCD 2015
"Nils Økland is one of Norway's leading hardanger fiddle players, a renewer of traditional folk music who is also known to build bridges to classical and contemporary music. In contrast to many fiddlers Økland writes most of the music himself, ranging from beautiful, melodic ballads to atmospheric experiments and darker soundscapes. This is his second solo album, the follow up to 'Blå Harding', an album that received fantastic reviews when it was released in 1996." - label description. other musicians on this recording include Pål Thorstensen (double bass), Torbjørn Økland (guitar & trumpet), Sigbjørn Apeland (harmonium, piano & organ), Åsne Valland Nordli (vocals), Ole Henrik Moe (hardanger), Berit Opheim (vocals), and László Rácz (cimbalom). Digipak.

Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Panaiotis
"Deep Listening"
CD
$12.00
New Albion Records (U.S.)
NA 022
highly recommended first recording of what would become the Deep Listening Band. recorded on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, this 1989 disc is a mastering piece of reverberating acoustic sounds. "A warden approached us as we prepared to descend 14 feet down into the 186 foot diameter cistern that once held 2 million gallons of water. The warden reproached us for parking a van on the dirt covered ceiling. Pot holes suggested that perhaps the ceiling was not so stable. Once we had made our decent and after my eyes had adjusted to the dim cavern, I realized almost at once that the warden had probably never been inside: the cavernous cylinder is made of reenforced concrete with more pillars per square yard than a skyscraper. The water tank, built in 1970 on an army base, was probably designed to withstand heavy bombing. Our van was the equivalent of a mosquito on a housetop. The remarkable thing about the acoustic space is the long reverb, which could approach 45 seconds, and the lack of slap echoes and distinct early reflections that are often characteristic of large cathedrals; only pure, smooth reverb, the type that can be simulated electronically but is thought to be unrealistic and fantastical. The space is real, and unique. A large cathedral will return slap echoes and uneven resonance characteristics. The cistern showed a very smooth frequency response and no echoes, only a smooth reverberation, the amplitude of which appears to begin at the same decibel level as the source. Consequently, it is impossible to tell where the performer stops and the reverberation takes over. One additional aspect of the reverberation field that does not seem to record easily and which makes simulation very difficult, is that it slowly moved from the sound source along the walls until it enveloped the listener: a most remarkable and beautiful phenomena." - Panaiotis.

Omenya
"The Dark Meditations"
CD
$15.00
Tantric-Harmonies (Russia)
TANTRA X13
"Eastern-tinged evolving drone from the quiet hills of North Carolina. Mark Davis, the man behind Omenya, creates contemplative circles of hushed beauty. A sometime collaborator with Robin Storey of Zoviet France/Rapoon, Omenya carries on the tradition of thoughtful, gauzy spirals of sound. Limited to 500 copies." - Monica.

Omit
"Rejector"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM19
"As a whole 'Rejector' seems lighter and not quite as painfully claustrophobic as 'Interior Desolation' or the majestic triple-box set 'Quad'. Contrary to what one possibly might think, it's a welcome development; instead of being on pins and needles I can fully concentrate on the visual scenery his music brings to my mind. I see burning stars streaked across wider inner landscapes, and it's all just so intensely beautiful. Of particular note is 'Divider' which with its mantra-like looped beats and swelling clusters of synthesized soundscapes goes way beyond the boundaries of our solar system. It's an irresistible journey that continues in 'Isolator', but this time we can stop and look at things we pass more carefully as it repeats itself over and over again into an entrancing meditation that will leave you asking for more." - Mats Gustafsson in Broken Face #13.

- 1348 -
"Enthusiasm"
CDR
$7.00
Bake Records (Netherlands)
BAKE 035
a mainstay of 1980's cassette culture, 1348 was the project of Jeffrey Surak who was also in New Carrollton and now records under the name Violet and in the duo V. 1348 mostly released music on Surak's Watergate Tapes, including a wonderful collaboration with John Hudak, but also had releases on other labels such as Korm Plastics and Sound of Pig, as well as many compilations. "Enthusiasm" was a C90 on Watergate from 1987 and features great clanking loops and ambient noisescapes. remastered and edited down to 72 minutes, this reissue rescues one of the classics of cassette only noise releases from the 1980's.

Yoko Ono
"Art is A Means for Survival"
postcard
$2.00
Art Metropole (Canada)
003008
4" x 6" gloss postcard with "Art is a means for Survival y.o. 2001" in hand written script. "Produced as a fundraiser for Art Metropole, this item reproduces the title in the artists' handwriting. Discussing September 11th in a recent interview with Now magazine, Ono stated 'I understand that other people are angry - I feel for them. But somewhere we have to stop the dialogue of violence. Art is the way to do that'."

Orange Head
"Right Into the Sun"
CDR
$15.00
Cha-Bashira (Japan)
CHAB-CDR 002
Pol Mahlow used 3 to 6 record players with melted, warped and broken records to make 67 minute disc. the five unedited suites have great titles like "Warped, Twisted and Turning" and "The Cat Licked My Records". they mash up Japanese pop in strange loops with plenty of record noise. packaged in a slimline case with color artwork.

Organum
"Feldzug"
7"
$18.00
Die Stadt / Siren Records / Robot Records (Germany)
DS33/SR09/RR28
the first new recordings from Organum released in a little while, this recalls some of the finer moments on L.A.Y.L.A.H. releases. limited edition of 333 copies. plain white sleeve. first side is 2 minutes 18 seconds; second side ('Stumpf') is 1 minute 12 seconds.

Organum
"Ikon"
CD EP
$11.00
Robot Records / Siren Records (U.S.)
RR-23 / SR-06
"Appearing only for a short time as a small edition cassette on Aeroplane (1987), and then later as a 12" EP (1989) on Christoph Heemann's Dom Bartwuchs label, 'Ikon' proved to be a monumental achievement in the Organum sound. Within the five compositions, Jackman combined self-made woodwind instruments along with vast droning environments to create spacious, haunting landscapes. These melodic undercurrents were paired with voice, percussive streams, and an assortment of textural elements that convey an incredibly eerie yet beautiful sense of space. Remastered and including an alternate mix of the title track, 'Ikon' is an awesome document of one of David Jackman's most important works. 16 minutes." - label description. edition of 700 copies.

Organum
"Volume One"
CD
$14.00
Robot Records (U.S.)
RR-17
intense acoustic layered droning noise using (amongst others) bowed metal and on one track mysterious female vocalizations. re-mastered material from "Tower of Silence" 12" and "In Extremis" LP (which used sounds from The New Blockaders), both of which were on LAYLAH Anti-Records, and "Rasa" from the split LP with Nurse With Wound on United Dairies. Organum is the brainchild of David Jackman, once a member of the Scratch Orchestra. second pressing.

Organum & The New Blockaders
"Pulp"
CD
$13.00
Robot Records (U.S.)
RR-26
for a long time, one of the most desired Organum items has been the "Pulp" 7", done in collaboration with The New Blockaders and released in an edition of 279 copies on David Jackman's own Aeroplane Records in 1984. both sides are finally reissued here, along with three previously unreleased version of the "Pulp", as well as the complete contents of the "Wrack" (12" single released on Dom Bartwuchs in 1990), "Raze" (a 7" single released by Regelwidrig-Cacophon in 1994) and another previously unreleased track. essentially this compiles all the collaborative material by Organum and The New Blockaders from 1982 to 1984, with the exception of "Salute" (which is released separate on Robot already). features simple cover design (no empty jewel case this time). edition of 700.

Organum & The New Blockaders
"Salute"
CD
$12.00
Robot Records (U.S.)
RR-25
intense noise. "Early collaborative material from 1984. Originally only available as a cassette (released initially by the U.K. Frux label, then later on David Jackman's Aeroplane label) in very small editions. 'Salute' is comprised of 8 parts and can be viewed as the first, full-length collaboration between Organum and The New Blockaders following the release of the legendary 'Pulp' 7" from 1983. These pivotal sessions, as the title suggests, were landmark recordings. The result was in essence an appreciative 'salute' amongst the collaborators with respect to their individual as well as collaborative work. This re-mastered edition is a massive improvement in sound over the rare cassette versions. Not only do the intense tonal textures finally blaze through in their truly maximum form, but the CD edition also allows for an uninterrupted running program (in 8 parts). Each disc is minimally packaged in a clear jewel box." - label description. edition of 700 copies. 42 minutes.

Organum / Eddie Prévost
"Crux / Flayed"
CD
$17.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD27
a split between AMM's Prévost and Jackman's glorious drone project bringing forth wonderful atmospheres using acoustic sources. Prévost's work here is thunderous, his percussion building into reverberant waves. both Jackman and Prévost were in the Scratch Orchestra together, but this reunited them for new work. "'Flayed' features mainly Eddie Prévost on drums, general percussion and acme thunderer whistle. David Jackman added some bowed cymbals and electronic sounds. 'Crux' features Andrew Chalk on bowed gong, David Jackman on drone flute and bowed piano, Dinah Jane Rowe on drone flute, and Stephen Stapleton on chair. 'Flayed' and 'Crux' were produced by David Jackman and first featured on an LP released by Silent Records (USA) SR 8704A/B." - from the back cover.

ORHANYOJ
"1. Quartett"
CDR
$17.00
IRRAH-Verlag (Germany)
RAYJ 001
ORHANYOJ is a quartet of German wind players and this is the first of their quartets of which at least 5 have been done so far. however, while this is the first, the four members have been playing together in various combination previous to this, as has been documented on other Irrah releases such as the ZBM quartet. this disc presents a single 31 minute piece of rather atonal music for trombones, cornet and tenor horn, with occasional interjections from other instruments. the horns clash against each other and remind me of some of the work by Vinko Globokar. released in an unlimited edition, this CDR is now out of print.

ORHANYOJ
"2. Quartett"
CDR
$15.00
IRRAH-Verlag (Germany)
RAYJ 002
ORHANYOJ is a quartet of German wind players and this is the second of their quartets of which at least 5 have been done so far. this disc presents a single 42 minute piece of rather atonal music for brass instruments. the horns clash against each other and remind me of some of the work by Vinko Globokar. released in an unlimited edition, this CDR is now out of print.

Jim O'Rourke, Michael Prime & Eddie Prévost
"Alpha Lemur Echo Two"
CD
$13.00
Mycophile Records (U.K.)
SPOR 05
the primary track here is "Lemur", a 35 minute trio of O'Rourke (guitar & electronics), Prévost (percussion), and Prime (radio, water & bioelectronics), crossing the boundaries of rock, electronic and improvised music which was recorded in London in 1994. the obvious comparison point is AMM, not only due to their drummer being present here, but also from the use of radio and unusual guitar sounds. added to this is an early quarter from 1990 where O'Rourke and Prime are joined by Adam Bohman (strings & objects) and Andy Hammond (guitar) resulting in a more mediative atmosphere, perhaps due to O'Rourke mix. limited edition of 1000 copies in full color Digipak.

Richard Orton
"Electronic and Computer Music"
CDR
$17.00
Unique Music (U.K.)
CD IRUM 1003
Richard Orton is a very interesting, if largely unknown, person in the history of electronic music in England. he was, with Hugh Davies, a founding member of Gentle Fire, and was, alongside Trevor Wishart, making tape music at York University. three of his compositions, were included on the very rare and desirable "Electronic Music from York" triple LP box set. those three pieces are included here, along with other works, which I don't think have been available before. full list of what is on the CD: 'Kiss' (1968) (the first work to be made in the York University Electronic Music Studio); 'Clock Farm' (1970); 'Concert Music 5' (1970) [a realization of the text composition by the members of Gentle Fire]; 'For the Time Being' (1972); 'Astrorum Conscius' [a Music-11 piece, based on the life and work of John Dunstable]; 'Timeshadows' [performed with the composer's algorithmic composition program, Tabula Vigilans]; and 'Ceci n'est pas….' the early works are simply amazing and even the later works are quite enjoyable.

Richard Orton
"Instrumental Works"
CDR
$17.00
Unique Music (U.K.)
CD IRUM 1002
Richard Orton was a founding member of Gentle Fire and composed electronic music at York, but he also composed instrumental works, several of which used tape alongside classical instrumentation. very little of his work has been released aside from a few compilations in the 1970's. one of these was "Cycle, for 2 or 4 players" included on "New Music from London" released as part of Earle Brown's series for Mainstream Records. this disc releases for the first time four pieces: "Guitar Concerto" (1984) for solo guitar, solo obbligato 'cello, and orchestra; "Icarus" (1978) for solo violin and four electronic soundtracks; "Ambience" (1975) for solo bass trombone and electronic soundtrack; and "Scatter" (1977) for solo bass trombone, piano and electronic soundtrack. while the first is orchestral, the rest grow increasing experimental with their use of electronic sounds, and all would sound at home on old CRI LPs. the last two tracks are performed by the talent trombone player and composer James Fulkerson, while the earlier pieces feature Christopher Rowlands (violin), Arthur Nestrovski (guitar), Cathy Fells (cello) and Anemone Festival Orchestra conducted by John Godfrey. the composer himself appears on most tracks providing sound diffusion and piano (last track only).

Osaka Bondage
"Volume 2"
CD
$15.00
Shambala Records (France)
shamb 98001
Osaka Bondage was a duo which lasted from 1992 until 2002 formed by Nicolas Marmin (also known as AKA_Bondage and Arnaud Durand, and supplemented by Hughes Villette in their final years. they played more than 50 concert inside and outside France including collaborations with Michel Bulteau (Mahogany Brain), Voice Crack, Erik M, and Kasper Toeplitz. this 1998 CD sees them alone however using guitar, bass, prepared tapes, radio, and cheap electronics to create an improvised musique concrète that can also appeal to fans of illbient.

Matthew Ostrowski
"Vertebra"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21016-2
wild sound collages. "Former WFMU DJ, denizen of New York's A Mica Bunker scene, former Krackhouse (not head) member, and ARP whiz – now living in The Netherlands, having studied elektronische musik in Utrecht. At last, his long overdue first CD. Matt says: 'My music runs without stopping, and at a vertiginous speed. The architecture is simultaneity. …Not to perceive noise as music, but music as noise. This is a recording of a live performance: one member of a set of possible solutions. Vertebra is a computer program, an environmental construction, a scaffold, in which the activity of making sense and it's suspensions are not merely illustrated, but actually taking place'." - label description.

Otomo Yoshihide & Voice Crack
"Bits, Bots and Signs"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 011
"Bits, Bots and Signs documents the long overdue first meeting of these pioneers, recorded in March 2000 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, although as Möslang says, 'from the beginning, it was as if we had played together for a long time.' The three musicians generate gently pulsing rumbles, piercing whistles and lingering whines, fusing these varied sounds into a series of expansive panoramas. The striking cover drawing was created by Swiss artist Alex Hanniman. Otomo Yoshihide-electronics; Norbert Möslang-cracked everyday-electronics; Andy Guhl-cracked everyday-electronics." - label description.

Our Glassie Azoth
CD
$11.00
Plate Lunch (Germany)
PL 03
"a focus upon pure noise with an intent to locate, draw out and revel in its hitherto hidden harmonies. a meditation using the rough sound of variegated tape manipulations with some acoustic instruments such as flutes and woodblock to produce feedback-drenched drone chaos that flutters and filters into a transmutative experience. entirely conceived in an isolated part of Wales their environment is both actually and musically expansive and/or desolate at turns characterized by the cyclical coloration of nature." long out of print 1997 release on the defunct Plate Lunch label.

The Outer Sound Project
CD
$12.00
Ecstatic Peace (U.S.)
E#86b
"40 minutes of found, encountered, and created music by NYC-based artists Jess Holzworth & Jutta Koether, drifting with handheld tape recorders through the streets of The Big Apple from May to November 1999. The sounds they collected were later processed and edited, becoming sensual, variable tools towards a personal and thoughtful art/action and transcending themselves into the miasma of the beauty of daily life." - label description. "We as artists know and feel the true identity of sound from existentialism to our immediate surroundings. For us this was a project of triumphant research, exploring movement, sound, and emotion. Movement of our universe, the sound of this movement and the effects of them together. Culture of sound experienced in everyday life, while cruisin' and walking, a futile affair. A sonic field of power, a materialist activity, an instinctual pulsation from which aural pictures of social relations, far and close, emerge. Reaction, interactions, affections of beings and objects. Something that keeps us alive, picked up while walking, creating our songlines, seeking spiritual meaning in material space. Our dance and music, based on a temporary loss of self in chosen surroundings of sound. Those are our songs, ambivalently involved, detached, yet dialogical, interacting with what we found. Our seekers' trips through streets, spots, stores, a kitchen. We are creating some ultimate reality. Everywhere, there is life full of incident. We feel one is one's life. You can hear us working on it. Time's embroidery of blood, music, laces, laughter… and here we go: "walkin' on, leather, leather, leather... wawawa… walkin' on…" - Jess Holzworth & Jutta Koether.

Out To Lunch
"Speakers"
CD
$13.00
Captain Trip Records (Japan)
CTCD-213
very cosmic instrumental rock similar to early Ash Ra Tempel and Cosmic Jokers and fitting in well with Captain Trip's program of reissuing older material of this sort. performed by Iwao Yamazaki (drums) and Kohji Nishino (electric bass) - both members of the original Overhang Party and the early line up of Ghost, with Taiko Yoshizaki (synthesizer) recorded live 11/26/1994 at Gallery Ricoo, Tokyo and at Atelier Himawari, Kawasaki, 1993-1998. the name of the release refers to the special speakers built by Yamazaki which deliver a "total pure sound", but only at extremely low volume. though formed in 1990, this 1999 disc was their first release, and seems to have only been followed with a live CDR. however the group continue to perform live in Japan.

Oval
"Ovalcommers"
CD
$12.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 103
"The 6th full length release from Markus Popp (aka Oval) finds this world renowned digital mastermind extending the concept & musical platform of last year's acclaimed 'Ovalprocess' in every way. Exploring a spectrum of sounds between the abrasive sandblast of neo desktop rock (tracks 1-3) and the alienating, timeless splendor of DSP chamber music. In between there are unique excursions in folk electronica (track 4) and pop inflected wall-of-sound tunes that could only come from the mind of Oval. Popp describes 'Ovalcommers' as a 3D musical obstacle course, a friendly and accessible invitation to complexity. 'Ovalcommers' surprises with poetic and playful elements (organs and layers of guitar feedback), making room for understatement, sophistication and a new, almost absentmindedly casual atmosphere. Haunting emulations of processed brass, string and woodwind sections are carefully added to the otherwise still angular desktop rock. Listeners will leave 'Ovalcommers' with a new perspective on Oval in general, as Popp's strategy becomes clearly visible: A friendly, yet relentless fanaticism to experiment and innovate musically." - label description. Digipak.

Oval
"Ovalprocess"
CD
$13.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 081
"'Ovalprocess' is a flowing, textured manuscript that utilizes sublime low end rhythm and directive pulsation in a manner that eases the listener into a soft and pillowy world dominated by electronic bleeps, glitches and moans. 'Ovalprocess' equally represents an innovative music software application, designed by Popp, as much as it serves as the core engine to an innovative Oval sound installation. The installation is centered around one or several publicly accessible sound terminals running the Ovalprocess application, rendering the exhibit a customizable, collaborative workspace. Making the installation accessible in a public space is the ideal aesthetic that Popp craves-he feels it is far more effective than offering a CD-ROM or another option that would make the application available on a more individual basis. The 'Ovalprocess' installation allows the public to use sounds that are found on the album to produce their own Oval-like music." - label description. Digipak.

Oval
"Szenariodisk"
CD EP
$7.00
Thrill Jockey Records (U.S.)
thrill 064
"Markus Popp, or Oval as he has come to be known, has delivered. The digital terrorist attacks with a CD EP comprised of new material and six songs which graced his previous 12" releases, 'Aero Deko' and 'Szenario'. 'Szenariodisk' continues his exploration and manipulation of digital technology. This CD EP is the final installment in his three part series. This series of Oval Process Software takes a leap from the platform of 'Dok'. While 'Dok' employed the sound files of Christof Charles, 'Aero Deko', 'Szenario', and now, 'Szendisk' are made from the rich and round tones of the Oval sound files. The tones and melodies are a ghost, or a faint reminder of the melodies on the Oval debut 'Systemisch'. Those who saw Markus Popp on his tour with Tortoise had a small preview of the Oval Process in its present state. For those unlucky punters without a home P.A.-play this loudly! There is considerable depth and a deep groove." - label description. Digipak with embossed element.

O Yuki Conjugate
"Equator"
CD
$12.00
Staalplaat (Netherlands)
STCD 088
"'Equator', co-produced by the band and Paul Schütze and is the first new recording by O Yuki Conjugate in three years, following their widely acclaimed 'Peyote'. Since their formation in 1981 the band have released but a handful of albums, recording on a selective basis, and working for months on each track. Often records take two or more years to finish. Live performances have been equally rare, due mainly to their preference for the control offered in studio situations versus the unpredictability of playing in front of audiences. To describe O Yuki Conjugate as a 'percussion' band or an 'ambient' band is an incomplete characterization on both accounts. As band member Andrew Hulme, once said: 'I don't know what ambient is anymore. I just refer to some music as that to which one listens solely. It stimulates thinking, because a surrounding is created which makes this easy.' The O Yuki Conjugate sound is a wide combination of ethnic percussion, flutes, synthesizers and samplers. In the past their music has been compared to Jon Hassell's fourth world music, Harold Budd, and even Brian Eno. David Toop wrote in The Times 'In its teeming tropical fervor, peripheral buzzing and distant washes of sinister coloration, it depicts a landscape without foreground or figures. The inference must be that the listener becomes that figure in the foreground simply by immersing him or herself in the music.' O Yuki Conjugate can capture the mystery of watery depths, deserted lands, a cloudy sky, or a misty dawn; it is true picture-music, with great depth and atmosphere." - label description.

Frank Pahl
"Remove the Cork"
CD
$13.00
Demosaurus (France)
dmsr 002
"Frank Pahl is a fantastic musician, and 'Remove the Cork' proves it once again. he's a one man band, also know as a member of Only A Mother, playing a raw music on acoustic instruments (we can hear ukuleles, prepared piano, clarinets, euphonium). beautiful melodies seem to come out from nowhere... following the excellent 'The Romantic Side of Schizophrenia" (TEC Tones) and his contributions to the Doctor Nerve projects, and after his contribution to Elliot Sharp's 'State of the Union', 'Remove the Cork' brings you to the unknown world of inventive folklore. a masterpiece with Brian Poole (Renaldo and the Loaf), Dennis Palmer (Shaking Ray Levi), Nick Didkovsky (Dr. Nerve, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet), Doug Gourlay, Tim Holmes and Eugene Chadbourne." - label description.

Charlemagne Palestine
"Alloy"
CD
$15.00
Alga Marghen (Italy)
P 13NMN.035
"'Holy 1' and 'Holy 2' were both recorded in NYC in 1967. Charlemagne Palestine was listening to a lot of ethnic world music; he was also immersed in the late night New York soundscape and absorb the spacial sound diversity and beauty that such a big city could only express very late at night… He worked also at night building up a sound, oscillator by oscillator; then add tiny increments of white noise that would gradually make the sounds thicker and thicker until they were immense sacred machines humming like gargantuan Tibetan bees. The sounds were played very very loud making all the room and objects in it resonate while outside all was quiet and sleeping. 'Holy 1' & 'Holy 2' were done this way. Then, in 1969, Tony Conrad asked Charlemagne Palestine to make some carillon music for his film 'Coming Attractions'. They were seeing each other regularly when the Free Music Store of radio station WBAI asked Palestine to create a piece for an event they were preparing to broadcast live on radio. So he asked Tony, his saxophonist Bob Feldman and his then wife and soprano Deborah Glaser to collaborate on a work that he would organize around an instrument that he invented at that time called an 'Alumonium'. Tony Conrad played an instrument that he invented, the Long String Drone, that was a long string attached to a long wooden structure and amplified. Bob played the chimes and a conch. Deborah sang and played chimes and Charlemagne sang, also played the chimes and some percussion instruments that they found lying around the hall where they played. The piece became 'Alloy' and the sound used as an electronic background continuum, played through loudspeakers in the hall, were 'Holy 1 + 2' from 1968. Digipak CD edition with folded insert and liner notes." - label description.

Charlemagne Palestine
"Schlingen-Blängen for Organ"
CD
$13.00
New World Records (U.S.)
80578-2
"Schlingen Blängen is an invaluable addition to the slender but precious discography of Charlemagne Palestine, one of the legendary figures of the amazingly fertile New York and West Coast experimental music/art scene of the sixties and seventies. He is considered to be a seminal figure of early minimalism-as important as his better-documented contemporaries. His performances on the giant bells at St. Thomas Church and his evening-length Bösendorfer shows are still spoken of with awe by those who were present. Palestine left the music scene in the mid-seventies to focus on his visual art; he eventually moved to Europe where he still resides. Schlingen Blängen-a 70-minute long perambulation through the organ's sonic landscape-was recorded in 1988 (ten years after its initial performance) in a small Dutch church near the North Sea. It is difficult to describe because so little happens in it, yet at the same time an immensity of activity is going on and there is so much of it that it boggles the mind. We experience sounds set into motion by the initial choosing of a chord and its timbres (the setting of the registers or stops); the melodic changes that occur are subtle and few. In short, it is a relentless and uncompromising exploration of the physicality of sound as well as its spiritual dimensions. Palestine's music left its mark on a number of slightly younger composer-performers, among them Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca. Absolutely essential for a comprehensive understanding of the roots of minimalism and its offshoots." - label description.

Charlemagne Palestine
"Strumming Music"
CD
$14.00
New Tone Records (Italy)
nt 6742 2
absolutely essential minimalist solo piano - a hypnotic wavering succession of notes. reissue of the very rare LP on Shandar from 1977. liner notes by Joan La Barbara. "a work utilizing a note alteration technique with the sustain pedal of the piano constantly depressed which allows the undamped strings to resonant and compound with each other creating complex mixtures of pure strummed sonority and their overtones."

Charlemagne Palestine / David Coulter / Jean-Marie Mathoul
"Maximin"
CD
$14.00
Young God Records (U.S.)
YG21
"On 'Maximin', the music of the seminal minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine is reconfigured and reiterated by David Coulter and Jean-Marie Mathoul, in full co-operation and collaboration with Mr. Palestine. Coulter and Mathoul have taken previously recorded works of Mr. Palestine and - with the full respect due these often transcendent and sacred works - have interwoven new and/or found sounds, drones, and unexpected textures into an ever-shifting flow that brings new light to these deeply soulful, sonic-sculptural emanations. Recontextualizing the pure and spiritual force of nature that Mr. Palestine's music represents could be a risky musical undertaking, but Coulter and Mathoul pull it off beautifully, inspired solely by their love of and respect for the original works themselves. The mixes have an authentic, handmade sensibility, and even when electronics are occasionally introduced, retain an organic feel. David Coulter is an experimental, forward-looking UK composer and multi-instrumentalist whose history includes working in various capacities with The Pogues, Test Dept., The Kronos Quartet, Marc Ribot, Yoko Ono, Roger Eno, and many others. He has recently contributed sounds to, and has orchestrated a children's choir for the new Angels of Light album. Jean-Marie Mathoul is a sound manipulator and collagist who sometimes collaborates with Coulter. He lives in Brussels, Belgium." - Michael Gira / Young God Records.

Agnès Palier & Stéphane Rives
"Oxymore"
CDR
$15.00
La Belle Du Quai (France)
00106
the debut disc for both artists, these 9 free improvisations recorded in 1999 by Vincent Joinville combine voice and saxophone. the duo compliment each other in wail of cacophony similar in extended vocal style to Diamanda Galas, Fatima Miranda, or Joan La Barbara, exploring quiet timbres to energetic explosions. on some tracks, Agnès uses a megaphone to completely distort her voice "After formative years highlighted by classical singing, French songs, and jazz, Agnès Palier has been devoting herself to free improvisation. Besides a long term duo with saxophone player Stéphane Rives, she has collaborated and performed with many artists, musicians, visual artists and dancers from France and other countries."

Pan American / Komet / Fisherofgold
"Personal Settings : Preset 1"
CD
$14.00
Sub Rosa / Quatermass (Belgium)
QS127
three way split of minimal ambient beats. "This series is based on a simple principle: subjectivity. An artist, even if linked to a label, a movement or some other implicit connection, is at first an individual facing the challenge to establish a communication process through his 'tools' (the focus is put on electronic expression). When exposed to the media, the electronician often becomes an abstract and anonymous vector of sounds. Subjectivity. In this selection of the work provided, the musicians had a total creative freedom in a parametric space of approximately 15 minutes (only restriction), to be divided or utilized in order to present a single piece. The music can express a continuity or a rupture in the musician's production (more experimental or commercial form). The settings stand for the unique way one will use his gears to reach a personal expression to be shared with the audience. All about subjectivity and giving back the artists their own identity. On this first volume you will find new tracks from Mark Nelson (a.k.a. Pan American) [also in Labradford], Frank Bretschneider (a.k.a. Komet) and Joe Kingman (a.k.a. Fisherofgold). Thanks to them for their help and kindness and open-minded vision." - label description. Digipak.

Paul Panhuysen
"Partitas for Long Strings"
CD
$11.00
Experimental Intermedia (U.S.)
XI 122
"Two aspects were of central interest to him: different tunings and density of sound. He made an installation in the large space of Het Apollohuis, stretching four strings lengthwise and attaching them to the wooden wall on the far end, which served as a resonator. He did not use automatons or electric amplification. He played the strings by brushing them, walking back and forth at an even pace. His aim was to make his playing as continuous and even as possible. For each partita he recorded his playing four times, superimposing these recordings over each other and listening to the earlier recordings over headphones whilst playing. The total sound of each partita is produced by sixteen strings. The three partitas differ in the systems according to which the strings are tuned. These tunings can be regarded as the score for each piece. In Partita I all strings are tuned to the same pitch. In Partita II and III each string is tuned differently, and after each take they were tuned to new pitches....The result is a considerable difference in overall texture between the three pieces." - René van Peer. "The basic ingredients of Paul Panhuysen's art, both visual and aural, are all here, and I think that can be fairly well summarized with three words: minimal, rational and libertarian. The partitas are minimal, because there is really only one idea - playing unamplified long strings. They are rational, because as always, Panhuysen has found a way to place a rational structure on top of his work - in this case a form and a tuning system. It is libertarian, because like John Cage, and so many since John Cage, he lets the music do what it wants to do - in this case the wires vibrate however they need to." - Tom Johnson. Included with the CD is a 32-page booklet which details the history of Paul Panhuysen's work with installations through pictures and text.

Paul Panhuysen and the Galvanos
"Lost for Words"
CD
$14.00
Table of the Elements (U.S.)
45 Rh
a historical retrospective of Panhuysen's work played through a string installation which turns all the sounds into resonant drones. "Paul Panhuysen (b. 1934) is internationally known for his large-scale sound installations, built as gigantic stringed instruments. In 1963 he started to develop works which combined many media - images, light, projection, machines, objects, spaces, etc. - as transitory events and installations. The Maciunas Ensemble, founded in 1968, became the source of his experiences with sound and music, while his recent Long String constructions create a synthesis of various disciplines including sculpture, architecture, music, improvisation, composition and performance. In The Galvanos, Panhuysen has drawn material from a wide variety of sound projects he has created over the past two decades and channeled them through numerically tuned, resonating wires. The original recordings (including previous compositions, as well as canary songs and a speech by Joseph Stalin) are transformed by mechanical vibrations into completely new musical pieces. The resulting re-presentation of sound offers a unique and important look at the complex interrelation of mimesis and number in music." - label description. packaged in a slipcase with 40-page booklet.

Paul Panhuysen and the Mexican Jumping Beans
CD
$19.00
Het Apollohuis (Netherlands)
ACD 080116
"Before leaving Mexico City I bought 200 jumping beans and immediately after our return to Eindhoven I started to experiment with them. In the past I've worked often with animals, with birds, crickets and goats. I also use sensors, timers, solenoids, motors, galvano-meters, solar cells and oscillators to produce sounds. … Jumping beans are magical living creatures. I worked with them for a couple of weeks, tried out various recording modes and different effects. The final selection on this CD is rather straightforward. There are four different pieces. For each recording I put 16 jumping beans in 8 containers. Clothes-pins glued on piezo discs were used as contact mikes on each of the containers, which were placed on a sheet of soft foam plastic. The signals on the DAT recordings were mixed on Mackie mixer 1202 ULZ. The beans were activated by a halogen lamp over the table." edition 1000 copies. packaged in color full digipak with 12 page fold out insert.

Jonathan Parant
"Littérature"
CD
$12.00
Squint Fucker Press (Canada)
squint 00E
"Jonathan Parant has documented the spectral voices which emerge from things when we listen to them with fascination. His pieces indicate that there’s always a type of murmur which obligates us to remain attentive to what could happen, of what has happened, or what will never happen. Because the moment of listening inscribes us in the interstices of time. Therefore, let us not try to comprehend these little sound objects, but listen to them, 'lean in their direction', travel to nowhere with them. CD is in a clear jewel case and contains various shades of pink. every cover shows traces of being almost burnt. Jonathan is member of Fly Pan Am and Les Sirènes de Sorrente." - label description.

Robert Paredes
"Forgetting and Remembering"
CD
$11.00
innova Recordings (U.S.)
innova 528
two electroacoustic works from former member of the Harry Partch Ensemble, collaborator with David Dunn and student of Kenneth Gaburo. the first is successive layers of clarinet improvisations over a seven day period. the second "includes synthesized and acoustic sounds of grainy, chattering, clarinet-driven electronic screams, skirls, and keenings, ultimately exploring varieties of decay in many guises." both works clock in at over half an hour and have a great multi-layer quality about there where different elements take the foreground successively all the while continuing to twitter away. despite being of more recent vintage, 1986 and 1993, they have a quality about them that reminds me of earlier exploration of the classical avant-garde.

Harry Partch
"Enclosure 1"
video
$18.00
Innova Recordings (U.S.)
innova 400
four historic short color films made by Partch in collaboration with Madeline Tourtelot. includes a 12-page booklet containing Partch’s own written introductions to these films. includes: "Rotate the Body in All Its Planes" (1961), a study of graceful, dance-like gymnastics movements with specially composed music by Partch; "Music Studio - Harry Partch" (1958), a tour of his Chicago music studio, and demonstrations of his microtonal instruments; "U.S. Highball" (1958; completed 1968), a dramatized account of riding the rails during the Depression on a transcontinental hobo trip to Chicago; "Windsong (1958): the ancient Greek legend of Daphne and Apollo, transported to Lake Michigan. 74 minutes. NTSC.

Ben Patterson
"Tells Fluxus Stories (from 1962 to 2002)"
CD
$24.00
? Records (Germany)
?07
the only black member of the Fluxus group interviewed in his kitchen by Sabine Felker and Gerhard Westerrath on 3/14/02. as a member of Fluxus from the early 1960's, his explainations and recollection of the movement are very pertinent. not one to leave things alone though, Patterson has added "Ein Heldenleben" by Richard Strauss to the tape as background music to make this more of a piece in itself. however, the music doesn't distract from the comprension of his speech (or his crumpling of paper as an example in one place...) at all, and despite 40 years living in Germany speaks very clear English (his interviewers of course have nice German accents).

PBK
"Life-Sense Revoked"
CD
$11.00
Lunhare (Italy)
LIFE? 3
"The link between ambient and noise. Abstract turntable experiments, ambient textures, noise and song-form structures. Some tracks feature collaborations with AMK, Hands To, Brian Ladd, Jarboe, and Deaf Lions."

Pål Asle Pettersen
CDR
$7.00
Zang: Records (Norway)
zang: 07
"The music on this album has elements of both electro-acoustic music and noise. I've used sound-material from recordings of improvisations with found objects, field recordings and digital sounds and composed them together into sound-collages. The sound-collages are built up by contrasts, both between silent and noisy parts, contrasts in sound-textures, static and dynamic parts and between concrete and more 'abstract' sounds to create much of the tension in the music." - Pål Asle Pettersen. Ed Pinsent wrote about this disc in the Tenth issue of The Sound Projector: "He creates deep, sonorous effects on par with any electro-acoustic composer from the French school, and his work has a simple, hand-made quality that sets it apart from the ultra-slick work of the Empreintes Digitales brigade with their expensive banks of computer-assisted equipment." unlimited edition in handmade paper sleeve.

PGR
"A Hole of Unknown Depth"
CD
$15.00
Noctovision (Japan)
NCVCD-03
ambient material from 1989-90 by Kim Cascone. original Japanese edition, not later Silent reissue. "A Hole of Unknown Depth conveys intricate vibration and reflection of surrounding environments. 'Microbe' as the introduction, is pleasurable and simple. Following tracks abound with numerous sounds - too many to be able to concentrate on only one. All sound are blended forcefully yet they perfectly echo natural and mechanical sounds. PGR focuses on these deliberate audible illusions. 'Horizontal' takes you through a path through a variety of soundscapes, on one level, at a steady speed. never moving up or down. 'Colorless' gives a spiritual quality to intensify the pale as ghosts pitch. This gives strength to the changes of simple black low beats and pure white piercing tones. This track shows that being colorless is not dull or dead but an entity in itself offering a kaleidoscope for the ears. The final eruption, '13' casts labrynthal views concentrating on depression versus elevation. Shining disorder is produced as a consequential drift of sonic locomotion. The four tracks on AHOUD were made to re-create and embellish various backgrounds the artist had heard in daily life. These sounds are easily found but rarely noticed. Each atmosphere handcrafts emotional impact, if not a collision." - label description.

Points of Friction
"Sackcloth and Ashes"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM10
"Points of Friction scrapes together a mind-bending menagerie of sound from the panorama of objects and equipment they work with. Their process-oriented artistry invokes apparitions of the ear, with multi-dimensional sonic textures that span from quirky, seductive lullabies to revolting sensual assaults. Points of Friction made contact in the extremely beige but earthquake famous San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles and home also to the infamous Manson Family. Tim Alexander and Kenny Ryman (Paper Bag) served together as psychedelic altar boys at the age of nine. Kenny was from a musical family, so he had developed a set of ears from an early age. Damian Bisciglia (Agog) and Tim became acquainted in Cub Scouts around eight years old. Becoming reacquainted among a few self-described social outcasts at Los Angeles Pierce College around 1980, they gravitated to the art department where they encountered a cast of characters. Among these were the profoundly talented Jeannie Cohen (Sprout Mountain) and the profusely bizarre Joseph Hammer (Dinosaurs with Horns, Swan Trove, Solid Eye). Relieved and excited to discover other freaks, they soon evolved an excuse for converging: making noise. Originally inclusive and spontaneous, their noise was extracted from everyday objects, and recorded with built-in condenser mics on primitive equipment. They soon adopted some recording gear and musical instruments but no musical training. When Kenny replaced Jeannie, POF was born. Inspired by free musics from Beefheart to Harmonia, they met in Joe's or Kenny's bedroom to exchange sound and interact in private naïve noise/rock ecstasy. Originally released by the LAFMS offshoot label Solid Eye [who were also responsible for releases by Doo-Dooettes, The Romans, Tom Recchion, Dinosaurs with Horns, and Fredrick Nilsen] on cassette in 1984, Sackcloth and Ashes is the most electronic and perhaps most polished incarnation of this multimedia collective. The unorthodox exploration of keyboards, guitars, toy instruments, the assemblage of field recordings, noise improvisations, and tape loops tantalize the senses with arousing emotive power. The opus title track is a compendium of improvisational soundings and field recordings that include a chorus of squeaky swings, a cat's purring, snapping shrimp, a diseased lung, and cacophony on a yard sale card rack. Exquisitely abrasive and haunting tracks 1 through 6 yield to the perfumed machinery and melodious hypnosis of the remaining tracks. All were originally performed under cover of live film and slide projections with optical manipulations at alternative music venues in and around Los Angeles including Al's Bar, the Anti-club, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions(LACE), etc., and aboard the U.S.S. Cormerant ("Noise at Sea"), with bands such as the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets, Whitehouse, and the Monique Experience in the mid-1980's. Every piece on this album has such (currently archived) visual underscoring. Re-released on CD, the disc is lavishly packaged in beautiful silver and black in an eye-rattling multi-paneled silk-screened die-cut cover that undermines perception in the friction manner. The low-key intensity of Points of Friction may affect heart rates and breathing patterns. It is probably best listened to in a darkened room."

Polio
"Gemini"
CDR
$10.00
Apoplexy (New Zealand)
Apoplexy13
"The dank undergrowth of New Zealand's southern isle vibrates yet again to the sound of the drone. Polio belongs to Peter Wright, known to some as the man responsible for coining the worst band name this side of Lorne Green's Wet Nipple (that'd be Atonal Death, and yes folks, he was joking!). Following the issue of the first Polio disc on Freedom From earlier this year, 'Gemini' presents 3 tasty pieces of debased analog recordings that generate a panoramic vista of pixelized subscaping minimalism. Perfect for zoning out to on a hazy afternoon." edition of 50.

Clive Powell & Sedayne
"Hyem"
CDR
$12.00
Ploughmyth International (England)
PMICDR 8
"Clive & Sedayne (aka Sean Breadin) were born within six weeks of one another at Preston Hospital, North Shields during the summer of 1961 although they didn't actually meet for another fifteen years by which time they'd formed the respective appreciations of their native Northumbrian culture, history, landscape & heritage that lies at the heart of what they do individually & collaboratively. Over the years they've worked in various contexts for experimental, creative & traditional musics and their collaborative work might be seen as an effective synthesis of the three although they themselves don't make such distinctions. HYEM comprises of material drawn from three very different recorded works - Waters of Tyne (1997), Northern Star (1999) & Winter Matrix (2000) - sequenced by way of a continuity & juxtaposed accordingly." - label description.

Projekt Klangnetze
"Musik von dreiundneunzig SchülerInnen"
CD
$15.00
Durian Records (Austria)
Durian 003-2
a collection of modern classical pieces recorded by students in Austria, with some help from Elisabeth Schimana, Burkhard Stangl, and Michael Moser. the first six pieces are all large ensemble works, the seventh add electronics and the eighth is a tape collage. "Klangnetze (sound networks) is a project initiated by Lothar Knessl and Christian Scheib, the musical curators of the Federal Ministry and carried out in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Service (Osterreichisches Kulturservice) throughout the country. Over a time period of three to four months and with the assistance of professional musicians, composers, and teachers, school students have the opportunity to compose and realise their own music. The project's objective is to allow students of all school grades and types to become familiar with aspects of modern music, to create an understanding for material and form, improvisations and composition, sound and noises, musical communication and to promote the sensitivity of acoustic perception. The project does not merely convey knowledge in the traditional sense – the students acquire this knowledge in a process-oriented, independent, and creative process." - from the liner notes by Hans Schneider, project leader/ Klangnetze.

Vic Rawlings, Howard Stelzer & Jason Talbot / Anastasis Grivas, Theodore Zioutos & Nicolas Malevitsis
CDR
$9.00
editions_zero (Greece)
e_z#2
a split CDR with two improvising trios on two continents playing with live electronics and scraping textural sounds. representing North America are Vic Rawlings (cello & circuit bent electronics), Jason Talbot (turntable) and Howard Stelzer (tapes) recorded live at the Berwick Research Institute in Roxbury, Massachusetts in September 2000. this is followed by the European trio of Anastasis Grivas (prepared bowed guitar), Theodore Zioutos (live electronics) and Nicolas Malevitsis (amplified objects) recorded at Small Music Theatre in Athens, Greece on the occasion of their first meeting as a trio (the members have apparently played together in other groupings), which was November 30, 2001. both groups share a similar aesthetic and are well matched to share a disc. they take improvised music and push it into the further realms of experimental music as they explore pure sound. packaged in a heavy card folder sleeve and released in a hand numbered edition of 140 copies on this label related to Nicolas' Absurd. released in 2002, this long out of print and I actual found someone offering this online for $50.

RLW
"Views"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM27
In the 25th year of Ralf Wehowsky's recording career, Anomalous Records presents his first truly solo release featuring four new compositions based on instrumental improvisations. Using simple devices (tone-generators, percussion toys, music boxes, an electric toothbrush and an electric guitar) played in unusual ways, he builds up layers of each sound to create a suite of textural pieces. Each of the four tracks takes on an identity unique from the others, as the first three each focus on one of the sound sources while the last combines elements from the previous three to make something else. The disc opens with a 20-minute piece of mysterious and drifting electronic tones. Other tracks highlight very tactile sounds and bring a much more 'live' element to his work, while retaining his skillful use of dynamics and placement of silence which have gained him so many fans. Previous releases by RLW have seen him collaborate with such diverse artists as Achim Wollscheid, bernhard günter, Andrew Chalk, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, and Bruce Russell. He is the founder of the now defunct group P16.D4 and the still active label Selektion. Other releases of his work have appeared on Table of the Elements, trente oiseaux, Streamline, Perdition Plastics, Swill Radio, Meeuw Muzak, and Metamkine.

Jocelyn Robert
"20 Moments Blancs Lents"
CD
$12.00
Avatar / Ohm Éditions (Canada)
AVTR 010
an electroacoustic evocation of a gallery space. "'20 moments blancs lents' is a commission by the Chambre Blanche celebrating the art centre's 20th anniversary. The work is an attempt to listen first to these twenty years from a distance, so as to trace only the soundsilhouette of the time gone by, and then from closer and closer, until one can hear the grain of a laugh." in embossed pure white paper sleeve sleeve.

Dean Roberts & Werner Dafeldecker
"Aluminium"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 009
"Aluminium was recorded during a marathon studio session in Vienna in April, and was brilliantly mastered by Tim Barnes. Both musicians play guitar and electronics, along with occasional percussion on a hi-hat placed between them. On the first track, Dafeldecker's sine wave electronics intersect with Roberts' rough guitar textures, priming the listener's aural palette for the marathon track which follows. This half hour long piece is a atmospheric exploration fusing the legacy of AMM with the spirit of rock and roll." - label description.

Claudio Rocchetti
"But Speak Fair Words"
CDR
$13.00
s'agita recordings (Italy)
s'agita 018
"Composed and structured by Claudio Rocchetti, made with electric and acoustic guitars, hands and laptop. The second part of the track 'Tired Nervina' is an emotional cover of a Robin-Proper Sheppard song. Recorded during the Autumn of 2002." - label description.

Steve Roden
"invalidObject Series (for)"
3" CD
$11.00
Fällt (Northern Ireland)
F.0014.0010
"(for)m. 15 one minute motion studies for Eadweard Muybridge. Processed recordings as follows: Forearm: contact mic. rubbed along the arm; Forefinger: contact mic. tapped with fingers; Forefoot: contact mic. rubbed with feet; Foreground: contact mic. dragged along floor; Forehand: contact mic. clutched within palms; Forehead: contact mic. pressed against head or inside mouth; Forequarter: 25 cent piece dropped onto contact mic. To be listened to at low volume. This release is limited to a worldwide edition of 250 copies." - label description.

Steve Roden
"Resonant Cities"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC031
a beautiful quiet exploration over 49 minutes. "Steve Roden composed 'Resonant Cities' as a project for Kunst Radio Wien (Art Radio Vienna) using only field recordings of tiny details from cities all over the world. The following lines from a text Steve wrote about this work perfectly describe what it is about: '... searching through my library of field recordings for material for this project, I realized that my visits to most cities are a kind of hunting activity to gather these inconsiderable audio things - and indeed as I listened, a lot of these sounds they conjured up some very strong memories of moments when I have been in a city yet felt outside of 'city', as though an intimate listening or soundmaking activity can completely take one outside of their immediate environment to a place where the sound one is listening to begins to define the parameters of space. even quiet sounds, if one listens closely and intimately can direct one's attention away from the existing 'scenery'...'. Resonant Cities is a Mixed Mode CD." - label description. the ROM bonus on this disc is a 3 page PDF file with liner notes.

Steve Roden
"Three Roots Carved To Look Like Stones"
CD
$14.00
Sonoris (France)
sns-01
"this work was originally an installation presented at inmo gallery, in chinatown/los angeles, december 2000. the work was created using 3 objects purchased at chinatown giftshops: a toy wooden flute, a small aluminum wind chime, a small paper accordion. each track was created using one of these objects as the only sound source. some of the sounds have been processed electronically. the installation was created in response to: the generic sounding 'muzak' playing in most of the public spaces of chinatown; the private landscape of chinatown lingering unnoticed in alleys and second floor windows; and, a book on the history of chinese philosopher's stones. the audio was installed in front of a large picture window facing the chinatown pedestrian area." - Steve Roden.

Damion Romero
"Feedback in a Lover's Telegraph"
CD
$10.00
Harbinger Sound (England)
HARBINGER023
Damion is one of the great underappreciated sound artists of the Los Angeles area. his work could easily be compared to work by Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma in their Sonic Arts Union days: Lucier for his simple elegance of setting up a system, Behrman for creative use of feedback systems, and Mumma for his work in building his own electronic sound making devices. however, even if Damion is familiar with these three, he seems to draw a greater inspiration from the pioneers of acoustics such as Herman Helmholtz, Ernst Chladni, and Hans Jenny. what we have here is what some might call an installation in that the instrument stretches across the room it is presented in. this will probably make more sense looking at the illustration on the 5 by 50 inch fold-out cover, but basically it is sound picked up in one resonant device (a bucket) which is then amplified in another resonant device (another bucket) which in turn transmits the sound back to the starting point via a length of vibrating wire connecting the two. a very simple feedback circuit using acoustic and electronic elements. surprisingly simple, and surprising rich results on these two extracts of almost 30 minutes each. to clarify, this is not harsh squealing feedback, but a gentle and warm self-sustaining system, maybe in the same class as "Music on a Long Thin Wire", but easily distinct. limited to 300 copies, so don't delay as once these copies are sold, this won't come back in.

Marina Rosenfeld - The Sheer Frost Orchestra
"Drop, Hop, Drone, Scratch, Slide & A for Anything"
CD
$17.00
Charhizma (Austria)
charhizma018
performed by the 'Sheer Frost Orchestra 2001': Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, Andrea Claire, Nilsa Colon, Barbara Ess, Chiara Giovando, Daniella Fabricius, Zhenya Merkulova, Kari McKahan, Josephine Meckseper, Marina Rosenfeld, Yvonne Senouf and Brooke Williams - electric guitars; Alexandra Gardner, Kaffe Matthews, Ikue Mori, Kristin Norderval and Keiko Uenishi - laptops. "performed live at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York City, 26 April, 2001. recording engineered by James Lo. The Sheer Frost Orchestra, since its birth in 1993, has been about creating improvised music - and improvisers - from an unlikely source: women I approached, sometimes on a blind whim, and asked to improvise. I provided them with a playing technique they could learn in an evening, which was a series of named hand gestures and a list of 'musical perimeters' they could think about - fast vs. slow, dense vs. sparse, sudden vs. gradual - and a grid-like score that put it all together and made the group quadraphonic, or at least stereo. the point was to recruit non-musicians and see them transform into musicians, or as I usually put it, people who were 'making musical decisions in real time'. the technique I was teaching, playing the guitar by laying it on its back and striking it with a hard, inanimate object - the nail polish bottle - was incidental to this original intention, which was to give my players a way to do this mystical and enthralling activity: play electric-guitar music live, though I was also attracted to the contrarian relationship of 'sheer frost'-style guitar-playing to 'normal' guitar-playing. we were not really touching the guitars at all, since the glass surface on the bottom of the bottles mediated our touch; and the floor instead of our laps or crotches was what the instruments rested on. this altered something fundamental about what I thought bodies and electric guitars were supposed to become together. as guitarists, we were cold instead of hot, frosty, glassy, impermeable and opaque - or sheer or matte or whatever else the bottles said on them about the polish inside. though I originally believed we were 'antivirtuosos', rejecting the temple of guitar gods, the orchestra evolved its own kind of virtuosity. for each orchestra, I would explain the 6 hand-and-nail polish gestures - the drop, the scratch, the hop, the drone, the slide and the 'a' (for anything, or all, or sometimes anarchy) - and do a sort of freestyle lecture on what 'making music' could be in this context. I honed in on ways I thought I could expand the field of communication we were attempting - refinements of the scoring system, the workshop/rehearsal process, the socializing that always went with it. the point was to produce as much sonic variation as possible. since we were invariably an eccentric collection of personalities, this happened sooner or later. it was fun, and then it started to sound good. in 2000 a pair of women who had played in the piece a season before in San Francisco contacted me and requested scores so they could mount the piece without me. they said they could teach the workshop themselves and would mail me a recording from their concert. that was an interesting moment for me, though I guess I can't say what I actually thought it meant. the last orchestra was the first one to feature the laptops. in the spirit of adding another whole layer of variation to the composition, I thought of replacing 5 guitar players with electronics players who would sample material from players nearby and process it. I chose 5 artists whose art it was to transform sampled sound of one sort or another. the result was this performance, presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, April 2001." - Marina Rosenfeld, November 2001.

Keith Rowe & Toshimaru Nakamura
"Weather Sky"
CD
$12.00
Erstwhile Records (U.S.)
Erstwhile 018
"Weather Sky was recorded in Saint-Etienne, France in June 2001, and consists of three live improvisations totaling 73 minutes. Both musicians almost entirely sublimate their egos throughout, creating a pure abstract feedback, with occasional flecks of sound jumping to the foreground, coalescing to produce a sense of eternity." - label description.

Patrick Rutgé
"Eaux fortes"
CD EP
$14.00
Collectif & Cie (France)
mts 02
"…plays on a more naturalistic level: it's a sound recollection of our town Annecy, an invitation for a stroll in its little streets and channels." starting from subtle beginnings of running water and building up slowly till it reaches a climax of cacophonous traffic noise and chaos of car horns and crowd noise where it then again slips into quiet outdoor ambience. 21 minutes. second in the 'Musiques Tracées de Savole' series curated by Alain Savouret.

Ruth
"PolaroÏd/Roman/Photo"
CD
$14.00
Fractal Records (France)
FRACTAL 014
"Remastered CD reissue of the third album of Thierry Müller (aka Ilitch) released in 1985 under the name of Ruth, with a 16 page booklet (which includes the original vinyl booklet), plus three bonus tracks: two versions of 'Polaroïd/roman/photo' from 1982 & 1984 and a remix track by L'Orchestra Inachevé (aka Patrick Müller and Laurent Saïet). Ruth is a 10 musician collective, led by Thierry Müller: Marc Duconseille (saxophones, flutes); Gérard Nouvel (trumpet); Pascal Morrow (violin), Patrice Gillaumat (drums), Frédéric Lapierre (words, vocals, chorus); Frédéric Cambon (vocals), Christine Snabre & Mika Tessarech (chorus); Philippe Doray (words); and Thierry Müller (guitar, synthesizers, organ, sequencer, vocals, words). 'Polaroïd/roman/photo' is a relax mood erotic-melodic-synthe-80’s pop, very musical and structured album, with fine arrangements, closed to Kraftwerk early 80’s period. Also, includes a clever cover of 'She Brings the Rain' by Can." - label description.

Robert Rutman
"Music to Sleep By"
CD
$18.00
Tresor (Germany)
TRES V04
using only his unique steel cello and bow chime along with chanting voice, Robert Rutman performed these beautiful ambient solos in front of the Tresor club in 1997 with Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) recording and producing. also included is a 22 minute recording from 1987 in Cambridge with added vinyl noise. really gorgeous drone music.

Robert Rutman
"1939"
CD
$11.00
Pogus Productions (U.S.)
P21017-2
"This release reissues Robert Rutman's Pogus LP (P201-1) and includes an additional track. Rutman (b. 1930) has been building and performing on his homemade metallic instruments for many years. This recording features his buzz chime, steel cello, and bow chime, along with tabla, Tibetan horn, and Rutman's vocal chants. Rutman caresses the metal, drawing out eerie drones and overtones that buzz and trumpet. The music in turn can be as fragile as glass or reach the depths of resonance, as if one has just come upon singing whales at sea. Beautiful music and long overdue on CD." - label description.

Sakada
"Undistilled"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD49
further collaborations (following a previous CD on w.m.o/r) with Eddie Prévost (AMM), Rosy Parlane (Thela, Parmentier), and Mattin. "Undistilled was recorded at live performances in London and Rotterdam in January, February and March 2002. Components are a restricted range of percussion (Eddie Prévost), electronic sounds confected earlier for intuitive, tweaked release (Rosy Parlane), and nervous hyper-attention to every noise present, allowing spontaneous digital transfigurations of some (Mattin). The product is a formidably dense mesh of textures and a subtle alignment of urgency and stasis, persistence and interruption. A sound-body exalting in its raw and varied outer abrasions, tormented by heaving intestinal bass and pierced irregularly by silver screeched, yet somehow concealing a few inner surfaces of all but languid smoothness. Needless to say (or to continue demonstrating, it is wholly incommensurable with any attempt at verbal description." - from the liner notes.

Philip Samartzis / Pimmon / Darrin Verhagen / David Brown
"Grain"
CD
$11.00
Dorobo (Australia)
dle8
"released to coincide with their 2003 tour of San Francisco, the 'Grain' compilation highlights the work of 4 of Australia's eminent sound artists - with Samartzis and Pimmon exploring delicate electroacoustic manipulations of field recordings, Verhagen constructing a fragile matrix of treated frame drum patterns, and brown dynamically deconstructing the 20th century post-classical sound palette. 'Grain' is limited to 600 copies only and comes packaged in subtle ice green textures on satin card from i+t=r." - label description.

Philip Sanderson
"Reprint"
CD
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM23
Reprint was originally released on cassette by Snatch Tapes in 1980 and was credited to an unknown duo called Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey.  A press release accompanying the cassette painted a picture of two pre-Raphaelite synthesizer knob-twiddlers who in between repatching their VCS3's went for long walks in flowing robes on Blackheath. Intrigued, the record label Cherry Red included the duo on their compilation LP "Perspectives and Distortion" alongside such luminaries as Matt Johnson, Virgin Prunes, Lol Coxhill, Lemon Kittens, Eyeless in Gaza, Mark Perry, Ben Watt,  Thomas Leer, Morgan-Fisher, Robert Fripp, and David Jackman. Cherry Red furthermore wanted to release an LP by Thomas & Vezey.  Until they realized that all was not as it seemed. Claire and Susan were in fact a figment of Snatch Tapes founder Philip Sanderson's imagination.  In addition to running the label, Philip was one half of the DIY electronic group Storm Bugs, and regularly collaborator with a then unknown musician by the name of David Jackman (one of these tracks they did together was recent issued on a 10" by Die Stadt).  "Reprint" was in effect one of his few solo recordings. The first track Bright Waves ( an earlier version of the track on the Cherry red LP) with its fragile wispy vocals that blow in and out on a tape delay breeze certainly adds credence to the Claire and Susan subterfuge. However the rest of the music on the CD suggest that this was more than a Situationist prank. The description on the sleeve of the music as  "a study in repetition and change using two different sources and two different treatments..." was a nod towards the materialist approaches being used during the 70's in most (fine) art forms. "Reprint One" and "Reprint Two" use the loop formed by a tape delay to build up busy percussive patterns. Recorded live, the VCS3 triggered by a sequencer feeds in a set of constantly chattering rhythms. As the loops pass repeatedly over the tape heads the sound gradually degrades turning eventually into pure white noise. What starts out as a polyrhythmic perversity, somewhat akin to electronic tap dancing, builds into a wall of sound. Also here is the piece "Under Press of Sail" (which was featured on the compilation "Snatch 3" and the "0° North" tape by David Jackman and Philip Sanderson), and the secret bonus track "Nein Nein Nein", which was only included a few copies of the original tape release of "Reprint".  Unlike the other tracks, this was done in collaboration with fellow Storm Bug Steven Ball.  Using a low-tech five-minute answer-phone cassette loop with the erase head disabled, the two built up a montage of sounds which were fed through a home-made ring modulator. The music of Reprint is a peculiar combination of academic rigor married to an inverted pop art aesthetic. For whereas pop art incorporated the cheap intoxication's of consumer culture into the supposed lofty rooms of high art, here was an attempt to incorporate the form or perhaps just the smell high art into the low brutality of DIY electronics.

Somei Satoh
"Sun • Moon"
CD
$14.00
New Albion Records (U.S.)
NA 069
austere compositions for shakuhachi and koto, performed by Akikazu Nakamura and Shin Miyashita. "Sanyou and Kougetsu [from Sun • Moon] are a pair, like the sun and the moon. In Kougetsu I tried to express the clearness of the moon at night; in Sanyou, the purity of the early morning air. The Chinese character getsu means moon. In Chinese, similarly, the verb 'to chip' is pronounced ketsu. They are connected by the fact that the phases of the moon represent a 'chipping' away of its face. In Japanese, however, the word for moon is tsuki, which has the same sound as the word for obsession. We can thus understand how the ancient Japanese felt about the moon. Even today we can feel the mysterious beauty of the full moon in the clear sky."

Janek Schaefer
"Black Immure"
CD
$15.00
SIRR.ecords (Portugal)
sirr2010
"Janek Schaeffer is a London based sound artist, known for his innovative turntablism (his triphonic turntable being the most famous) but also for his interest in audio architectural research, concerned by relationships with a built environment such as bringing live sounds into buildings from outside through hidden microphones. His recent works combine in a delicate and masterful way vinyl manipulation techniques with field recordings and electronics. Janek spent 3 days collecting, manipulating and editing sounds found in and around the Casa de Serralves in Porto, Portugal. The Casa is located in the museum landscaped gardens and had a superb natural reverb. For the resulting concert this prepared material was improvised and combined with locally purchased 'Portuguese' vinyl and recordings he made using their Steinway piano. During the performance Janek physically 'played' the building by slowly winding down the enormous shutters and windows to envelop the audience in darkness. 'Immure' means to enclose within walls, to incarcerate. Towards the end of the concert Janek opened the terrace shutters and doors behind him as a sound reactive light installation cast shadows and light into the interior. The performance ended as he ran out into the moonlit garden away from the villa and audience as the final sounds flickered and faded away, leaving them in silence, alone." - label description.

Schams
"Erres"
CD
$15.00
Shambala Records (France)
shamb 99002
"a cross between extreme free-jazz (God, Naked City, Peter Brötzmann) and ambient (Z'ev) Schams (meaning 'sun' in Arabic) fuses traditional and acoustic instruments with electronic effects. the band's expansive membership has, as its nucleus, Jean-Luc Guionnet (sax, bagpipes, harmonium), Eric Cordier (hurdy-gurdy) and Yannick Tallet (drums). Schams proliferates numerous genres, from live improvs with Erik M, Dominique Repecaud or Pascal Battus (Pheromne) to electroacoustic performances with Eric La Casa (Afflux). attracted by their forcibleness, they were invited to play first attraction at Keiji Haino's last Paris concert." - label description.

Scheyder - Schwarz - Teruggi
"Transe"
CD
$15.00
INA-GRM / Celia Records (France)
CL 9717
piano improvisation by Patrick Scheyder, sound creation on tape by Jean Schwarz, and real-time transformations by Daniel Teruggi exploring intersections and time. "The sources are various: the piano, proposing and reacting to sounds or sequences already prepared on tape as well as synthetic sounds. Their modification comes next through transformations allowing an expansion of improvisation and integrating the concept of improvisation to the modification of sound matter. The amplified mixing of all the elements brings the final configuration of the Trio, in an experimental attitude toward Acoustmatic creation, characteristic of Jean Schwarz and Daniel Teruggi completed by the work of Patrick Scheyder and his mastership of improvised creation on keyboards. Complicity and listening are the result of 'Transe' and create the undissolving bond of the music for three, in three dimensions." - from the liner notes. Jean Schwarz has done music for films by Godard, Resnais, Moati, Ionesco and others.

Urs Peter Schneider
"Zeitgehöft / Sternstunde"
CD
$12.00
Edition Wandelweiser Records (Germany)
EWR 0101
"Performers: Erika Radermacher, Urs Peter Schneider, Niklaus Tüller, Luise Gaugler, Norbert Klassen, Michael Bühlmann. 'Zeitgehöft' (1976), concept for two pianos, is a mourning music. Here Schneider writes twenty-two stanzas of temporally and spatially carefully approached sounds, each flowing into considerable resonances. The work, commissioned by the Bernische Musikhochschule, is defined as a set of rules and algorithms and allows for numerable possible performance versions. It is dedicated to music author Thomas Meyer and was inspired by the twenty-two words in thirty-three syllables of one latest poem from Paul Celan's estate ('An die Haltlosigkeiten/sich schmiegen'). 'Sternstunde' (1985-86), opera in six images, applies imperceptible cyclical changes, simultaneously related to singing voices, speaking voices, toys and percussion, as its sole, homogeneously treated material. Besides his work in pure and rigid composition, especially in the surroundings of chamber music, Schneider always has been involved with theater, language and staging, before realizing his first and probably last opera, commissioned by the Swiss Radio Corporation, for the present as a contribution to the, as it seems, forgotten genre of radio opera. Reinterpreting the underlying text, this opera, thematically, is a conversation about the world between the two beings Ahriman in the odd stanzas and Lucifer in the even stanzas, while the two protagonists are not human beings, but spiritual powers. After the purely musical first broadcast (as a radio opera, in fact), Norbert Klassen and Janet Haufler, with whom Schneider has been collaborating ever since his first theatrical walking attempts, worked out an adequate stage version, a mobile opera project to a certain extent, that can be presented with very little means. It is dedicated to all the few and uses as its text solely a theater fragment from the estate of Friedrich Hebbel." - label description.

Barry Schrader
"EAM"
CD
$12.00
innova recordings (U.S.)
innova 575
"Barry Schrader, founder of SEAMUS (Society Electro Acoustic Music United States) transports alien otherworlds into your listening zone on E.A.M. (Electro Acoustic Music). It’s a mystic convergence of smooth, spacebound electronics, dreamy rhythms, drifting textures, and environmental arrangements that make for a captivating listen. From Bachian roots a la Wendy Carlos, to musique concrete a la Pierre Schaeffer, right up to new abstract synthetic worlds, Barry Schrader shows he is a master at the dials. Electronica not just for egg-heads." - label description.

Michael J. Schumacher
"Four Stills"
CD
$12.00
Sedimental (U.S.)
sed cd 032
"Sedimental announces its first release for 2002, 'Four Stills', from New York composer/guitarist Michael J. Schumacher. Schumacher has a strong presence on the experimental scene with his refined guitar 'drone' compositions but parallel to this activity he has been working with number system applications of sampled material through electronics, a direct extension of his audio installations. Schumacher is also internationally recognized along with his wife and artist Ursula Scherrer, who designed the artwork for this release, for the outstanding Studio 5 Beekman space (now Diapason on 6th Ave.) that provides a sympathetic environment for audio artists to execute installations. Sedimental is honored to make available the rarely heard digital works of Schumacher to a wider international audience - a dynamic composer who has provided a unique aesthetic forum for some many like-minded composers as well. Our reaction to material originally considered for 'Four Stills' was nothing short of breathtaking. Where as much digitally generated material succumbs to a hermetically closed world of glitches and electronic landscape Schumacher's work opens up this environment, despite the density of the material, into a breathing, organic spaciousness while still maintaining the intimacy inherent in the form." - label description. "The 'Four Stills' are expressions of the number system that I have used since 1989 in my electronic compositions. These numbers form the basis for dozens of rhythmic processes executed by the computer, from playing a MIDI grand piano, to deciding a range within a sample buffer to play, to determining larger structural aspects such as the alternation of sound and silence within a particular part. The fact that they are prime numbers prevents predictable patterns from emerging. The limit of six maintains structural coherence. The 'Four Stills' were recorded direct to stereo in real time. Though the sounds used in a given piece are predetermined, their interaction with each other over time is left to chance. These pieces are extensions of my installation pieces, which evolve over long time periods, and are also created in real time by generative algorithms. However, in contrast to the installations, which utilize distance as an important perceptual feature and employ as many as 16 independent channels of sound, allowing for meaningful variations in texture, these recordings, being limited to two channels, are more compact in their presentation of the sonic material. They therefore remind me of certain styles of painting, which present the spectator with a static field of color that is experienced in no particular order. Though the music obviously unfolds over time, the analogy seems appropriate to me, since the dense textures (sometimes as many as 27 simultaneous parts) invite a contemplation of the many layers of sound and their relation, not in time, but in space."

Jean Schwarz
"Suite Symphonique • Anticycle"
CD
$13.00
Celia Records / INA•GRM (France)
CL 8908
this disc opens with a suite of computer controlled sampler pieces from 1988 which recall the work of Asmus Tietchens. paired with this is "Anticycle", written during the 1972 Munich Olympics. the ten pieces here all focus on different percussion from orchestra keyboard to jazz drums, as well as African xylophones, drums and bells, and cymbals and tympanis, all performed by Michel Delaporte, except for a "few genuine seconds of African Music" recorded by Gilbert Rouget and Hugo Zemp.

Domenico Sciajno & Gert-Jan Prins
"The D&B Album Featuring:  Do Shine'o  & Prinsjan"
CD
$15.00
Bowindo (Italy)
Bowindo 04
"This is the first re-drum & re-bass album from the electronic duo of Domenico Sciajno and Gert-Jan Prins. They are both well known in the world of experimental electronic music, with releases on Erstwhile, Fringes, and Grob. On this album Prins' analog shake-pulses and sweeps are directly plugged into Sciajno's specific Powerbook aesthetics and vice versa. As a whole, the five pieces on this adventurous CD form a precision-combination of sharp computer-energy, rocking self-made electronics, and fluid music recombination-technics creating a grinding-spatial-musical concept, which at times reminds of Shine'o's & Prinsjan's rhythmic - and play technical backgrounds on drums and double bass." - label description.

Dan Senn
"The Catacombs of Yucatan"
CD
$11.00
Periplum (U.S.)
P 0030
"Dan Senn is a sound artist and instrument builder. In recent years, he has toured Europe, New Zealand, and North Ameirca, exhibiting his instruments and performing with them. And this CD contains his performances with his instruments, among which are the Too Flutter, Fayfer HArp, Pendulyre, Pendulung, and Schmoos instruments, which use speaker transducers and piezo mics and produce a wide variety of sound from feedback, resonance, and amplification. Senn's instruments look great and they make the most interesting sounds!" - label description.

Sensorband
"Area / Puls"
CD
$13.00
Sonoris (France)
SON-31
"Sensorband is a trio of musicians using interactive technology. Gestural interfaces - ultrasound, infrared, and bioelectric sensors - become musical instruments. The group, Edwin van der Heide, Zbigniew Karkowski, Atau Tanaka, each soloists on their instruments for over six years, formed Sensorband to create a performance ensemble. Edwin plays the MIDIconductor, machines worn on his hands that send and receive ultrasound signals, measuring the hands' rotational positions of and relative distance. Zbigniew activates his instrument by the movement of his arms in the space around him. This cuts through invisible infrared beams mounted on a scaffolding structure. Atau plays the BioMuse, a system that tracks neural signals (EMG), translating electrical signals from the body into digital data. Together, Sensorband creates a live group dynamic, bringing a visceral physical element to interactive technologies. Sensorband's projects center around the theme of physicality and human control/discontrol in relation with technology. about the members: Edwin van der Heide is a composer, performer and instrument builder based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He creates spatial control instruments that extend technology developed at STEIM in Amsterdam, and develops custom musical DSP performance software. Atau Tanaka is a Japanese-American composer and performer currently based in Tokyo. He has lived in San Francisco where he began working with the BioMuse, a neural musical instrument controller. He lived in Paris to work at IRCAM. His performances use corporeal gesture to articulate music and sound synthesis and real time image transformation. Zbigniew Karkowski is a Polish-Swedish composer/musician presently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. He has worked professionally in the areas of written contemporary music, industrial music, pop music and experimental performance for the last 11 years. He is active in the underground noise scene in Japan. First CD from this trio already well known for there performances. The basic materials are pure oscillator waves. 'Area/puls' gathers one half an hour pure analogue track and three digital tracks of strong electronic music. The result can be considered as the missing point between Hafler trio (Z. Karkowski used to be a regular member), Ryoji Ikeda and no-rhythmical Panasonic." - label description.

Matt Shoemaker
"Warung Elusion"
CD
$15.00
trente oiseaux (Germany)
TOC022
"I will describe Matt Shoemaker's second CD for trente oiseaux using some notes i jotted down on a piece of paper while listening to it. His music consists of an ever-changing, intricate web of sounds defining spaces in constant transformation. It is very detailed, very present. Transitions between sound scapes, sometimes very slow and very gradual, sometimes very surprising, keep his music going; often different strata of time are present simultaneously. Matt is a master in building and sustaining tension by means of changes in density of sounds and events, as well as by modifying the frequency range of the spectra used. Another interesting quality of his music is that it brings the abstractness of concrete sounds taken out of their context to consciousness. I noted these general impressions while listening to the first of the two pieces, and i'd like to describe the second one in more detail: i can't help but think of it as an immense, surrealist electronic rain forest, filled with tiny noises, far-away calls, and sudden showers of rain. The piece builds up slowly to stay quite intense and urgent over a longer stretch of time, and, after a change in harmony, to end (and finally fade away) in weightlessly floating vastness. In June 2001, after i had written the above, Matt has composed a third piece, adding new sound colors to his palette, and deepening his exploration of the creation of artificial space. The vivid dynamics along with the overall mysterious character of the new piece make it the perfect opening work for his new CD. While Matt Shoemaker is not a very known name in the realm of electroacoustic music, yet, i believe that it certainly will be in the future, and i will do my best to make it happen, as i think that his music quite comfortably compares with that of more known artists. Don’t miss his music! Scheduled for April 2002" - bernhard günter, April 2001.

Stuart Saunders Smith
"Breath: The Percussion Music of Stuart Saunders Smith"
CD
$12.00
11 West Records (U.S.)
DCA10086
"The snare drum is quite finite in its sonic potentials. Because of this a listener can quickly learn its timbral range. Once the listener is acclimated to the sound of an instrument, the focus of the listening experience is in the actual playing (touching) and the 'music', which is far more than the mere sound of an instrument." - from the liner notes. this collects 8 of his percussion pieces, the last of which uses flute and trumpet and another with voice, otherwise all instrumentation is percussive in various sizes and types from solo drumset to vibraphone trio. the works span from 1981 to 2001 and include among them some subtle works.

Sonic Catering Band
"Live from the Canteens of Atlantis"
2 x CD
$14.00
Absurd (Greece)
absurd cd#30
"Spanning their very brief live career from 1998 - 2001, the two CDs convey all that was exciting, frustrating, ridiculous and ultimately nourishing about an Sonic Catering performance. CD 1 begins at the beginning: w/ the first carrot chop at London's 333 nightclub, 27th September 1998 and ends at the end: Geneva's Moloko restaurant, 9th November 2001. In between lies a lean collage mix of culinary overdrive, assembled from every gig the project did capturing the various moods & atmospheres that were created during their live sets. Extracts of their 5 hour shift at The Moloko are manipulated and included between tracks 1,3,5 and capture/present a dense atmosphere at the restaurant. a CD giving you a great example of their sound, showing nearly all of the project's sides, full of various & bizarre moods & atmospheres, sometimes a bit rhythmic or others harsh or obscure. CD 2 is the documentation of their last proper performance at Geneva's Forde Gallery. An hour's recording full of meditative, abstract, spacious soundscapes. This is Sonic Catering Band's definitive live document, minus the food of course. The CDs come in a gatefold package with a reminisce by the band and a list of our live dates/venues." limited edition of 477 copies.

Mikael Stavöstrand
"De|gene|ra|ton"
CD
$8.00
Korm Plastics (Netherlands)
KIP 018
though previously in dark bands such as Inanna and Archon Satani, Mikael in recent years has remade himself and started exploring the world of computer glitch minimalism. taking cues from the likes of Ryoji Ikeda, Farmers Manual, Pan Sonic and maybe even Merzbow, this disc consists of 38 short tracks restructured from other types of music and made into a cut-up electroacoustic music full of silences, small movements and loops.

Ronnie Sundin
"Morphei"
CD
$12.00
Häpna (Sweden)
H.7
"Morphei is a soundtrack to a dream. A nighty-night record designed to make you WAKE UP and listen! Inspired by that in between state of wake and dreaming, when you're not quite sure whether you're asleep or not, this record presents a stream of realities seamlessly floating into each other, layers of events of acoustic and digital nature mingle; hear the Light-switch singing a duet with the Feedback-mixer, traces of Scandinavian wildlife intertwine with a tropical forest of digital insects, or hear the timestretched Teaspoon having a conversation with the Snow-balls of Thonk... you get the picture. Ronnie Sundin (b.1973) is trained in visual art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå, Sweden and mostly works with sound or sound related matters in a borderland between the art-scene and the music-scene. In 2001 he participated in the critically acclaimed invalidObject-Series that was released by the cross-media publishers Fällt based in Northern Ireland and he also released a CD on the Californian Ground Fault Recordings." - label description.

Lois Svard
"Other Places"
CD
$12.00
Lovely Music, Ltd. (U.S.)
LCD 3052
"Other Places is an exploration of Svard's interest in new concepts and ideas in music. This disc features works written for her by composers Elodie Lauten, Jerry Hunt and Kyle Gann. Lois Svard has received enthusiastic acclaim internationally for her performances of contemporary piano music. Critics have praised her for her 'lucid interpretations of unusual and seldom-heard repertoire,' and for the 'extraordinary musicianship' of her playing. She has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe, commissioning and premiering several works by such American composers as Robert Ashley, William Duckworth, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, 'Blue' Gene Tyranny, Stephen Scott, Kirk Nurock and David First. The three works on Other Places share the ability to expand the performer's and listener's musical parameters in unique ways. Elodie Lauten's Variations on the Orange Cycle is a richly-textured combination of transcribed improvisation and intentional notation that creates lush, ever-changing tapestries of sound. Jerry Hunt's Trapani (stream) is a contemplative work exploring different facets of sound through a progression of tremolo chords played with a variety of voicings, dynamics and pedalings. Trapani's slowly-changing harmonies are serene in their simplicity, yet mesmerizing in their unfolding. Kyle Gann's Desert Sonata is based on his unique rhythmic language developed from the multi-tempo structures of Conlon Nancarrow and the dances of the Hopi, Zuni and other Pueblo Indians. Gann's juxtaposition of widely divergent musical ideas creates an atmosphere that is both compelling and enchanting." - label description.

Per Svensson
"Energy Loop / Element II"
CD
$12.00
Firework Edition Records (Sweden)
FER 1008
twenty one aural documents of sounds and actions ranging from 38 seconds to 21 minutes and recorded in locations including a nuclear power station and a royal castle. the sounds are raw and organic drawing from a fascination with energy and the basic elements, in fact finding the longest track being energy and lightning recorded with lightning conductors. though involved in performance and installations, his work is anything but sterile and in fact flows with a basic pulse of life and lack of pretension.

Syllyk / Alain Basso
"Le temps des soupirs / Entraves évanescentes"
CD EP
$7.00
Dedali Opera (France)
CD OPUS 03
two ten minute pieces based around the electroacoustic processing of field recordings. the first, by Eric La Casa's Syllyk project, presents a building swell of noise and sound like a heavy wind or waterfall with clattering and shaking objects. the second is an electroacoustic treatment (mutation) of outdoor sounds, doors and distant voices. Alain Basso played bass and violin in the group Denier du Culte from 1982 to 1986 [several cassette releases and collaborative LP with Pacific 231], and in 1987 founded the band Phaeton Dernière Danse [see collaborative CD with Le Syndicat on Pure]. In 1989, he started his label Dedali Opera. In 1985, he become a student in electroacoustic courses at Collectif et cie, where he has recorded the track on this release. In his solo work, he tries to create a sonorous paste with manifold thickness which gets out of shape and tears roughly. This step accentuates toward two antagonistic tendencies: the first imposing broken rhythms or melodies breaking in nervous waves, the second putting in obviousness some vibrant masses in which oscillations superimpose themselves until the final explosion.

Pierre Tanguay
"La musique de mon disque"
CD
$12.00
Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada)
AM 079 CD
"This is 'dark ambient' background music for all occasions that is both minimalist and striking, played on invented instruments and recycled objects by a folklorist of the imagination." - label description. out of print.

Pierre Tanguay and Tom Walsh
"Midi tapant"
CD
$12.00
Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada)
AM 053 CD
improvised ambient collage? trombone, electronics, drums, percussion and objects. irreverent and disturbing. "Pierre Tanguay is resident drummer for most Ambiances Magnétiques projects. Tom Walsh has shown his worth playing with Pierre Cartier as well as Jean Derome’s supergroup Les Dangereux Zhoms. Tanguay and Walsh have been playing together for over a dozen years ( ! ) now and have, notably, performed in festivals from Toronto to Paris and in various musique actuelle series throughout Québec. Of minimalist construction, the music of 'Midi tapant' is both spontaneous and through-composed. It is swarming with sensations and suggestions of colors, and alternates between moments of sheer intensity and lighter sound. This is an enjoyable take on ambient music from two accomplished musicians." - label description.

Martin Tétreault, René Lussier & Michel F. Côté
"Des pas et des mois"
CD
$12.00
Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada)
AM 017 CD
"Martin Tétreault is not a standard musician: his instruments are turntables. A specialist of reduction and trafficking, he has been fascinated by vinyl for several years: cutting up, scratching, scraping and even sanding the grooves. He will even go as far as ironing his victims to extract unheard sonorities! His first album, 'Des pas et des mois' has been conceived with the company of René Lussier, Michel F Côté, Jean Derome and Robert Marcel Lepage. Unwoven rhythms, twisted steps and social dance: Martin Tétreault plays like a mad scientist at mixing genres, creating a narrative music with his recorded samplings and his carefully dosed feedbacks.Audacious, different, new, this music is related to rock by its humorous energy, and touches the inner rhythms of the modern world." - label description.

Troum
"Tjukurrpa (Part One: Harmonies)"
CD
$14.00
Transgredient Records (Germany)
TR-01
"This is the first release on Troum's new label Transgredient and also the first part of the Tjukurrpa-trilogy, aiming to show the different sides of Troum's organic & archaic dreamscapes. This part one is dedicated to 'harmonies', containing seven yearnful & atmospheric tracks made by guitar, bass, accordion, voices and effects. The aboriginal word 'Tjukurrpa', translated as 'dreamtime', should symbolize the aim to build music that creates a dreamy state of mind, music of yearning, meditation and inner movement. The Tjukurrpa-trilogy shows the three basic musical spheres of Troum, 'harmonies', 'drones' and 'pulsations': This first part presents the harmonic, slow & sad beauty-side of Troum. First edition of 500 copies in a special full-colour circle-cover!" - label description.

Troum
"Tjukurrpa (Part Two: Drones)"
CD
$14.00
Transgredient Records (Germany)
TR-02
"This is the second release on Troum's new label Transgredient and also the second part of the Tjukurrpa-trilogy, aiming to show the different sides of Troum's organic & archaic dreamscapes. This part two is dedicated to drones; presenting five highly atmospheric and droning tracks ranging from minimal to monumental sounds, from dark ambient to more ritualistic areas: these are drones to loose your rational mind in and reach boundless spheres of mind.. The music on Tjukurrpa II is made by loops based on metal-sounds, percussion & other more obscure sources, as well as mouth-organ, choirs, guitars, and effects. The aboriginal word Tjukurrpa translated as 'dreamtime', should symbolize the aim to build music that creates a dreamy state of mind, music of yearning, meditation and inner movement. The Tjukurrpa-trilogy shows the three basic musical spheres of Troum, harmonies, drones and pulsations/rhythms. This second part presents the dark, droney & minimal side of Troum. [for more info about the ancient philosophy of Tjukurrpa, see: www.troum.com] Comes in a special full-colour circle-cover! Troum is 2/3 of Maeror Tri, creating submospheric music for the deeper mind!" - label description.

Stylianos Tziritas / Madder
"Rabbitspeech"
CDR
$7.00
Absurd (Greece)
absurd cdr#19
split release by two Greek artists making subtle creaking noises via extended vocal techniques, live electronics, amplified toy typewriter, turntable and objects. all of the pieces remain rather low key noise music. "on the 23 & 24/4/02 our friend Stylianos_Tziritas handled his 'Rabbitspeech' theatre performance at Small Music Theatre. having told us a couple of months ago that he had in mind to ask also a group to do a live show somehow influenced from the performance's text, we volunteered to be that project, as we feel like we share a lot in common w/ Styliano's ideology. so here's nothing but the documentation of our 2 live shows including also the soundscapes created by Stylianos_Tziritas for his performance." - Madder from the liner notes. limited to 155 numbered copies.

UNACD
"Long lut de bélemite"
CD
$17.00
Prométhée (France)
CD-Pr 001
this 1992 release features Vincent Vivien (clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion), Vincent Legrand (acoustic guitar, electric prepared guitar, bass guitar, harmonium and device), Eric Cordier (hurdy-gurdy, African luth and treatments) and Christophe Grosos (organ, harmonium, spinet-sarangi, acoustic guitar and percussion) plus the work of photographer Mélina Doudoux. recorded in La Haye de Routot's church and the Hotel Dieu's chapel in Honfleur (with an organ dating from the 17-18th century), the acoustic instruments are allowed to sing beautifully. the music is presented in three movements. the first, "Propriétaire Actuellement Inconnu" has a strong flavor of avant-garde classic work and might appeal to fans of Mauricio Kagel as it uses the organ and clarinet, among others, to play against each other in six lively but dissonant section. the short "Térence" uses percussion, often sounding like bells, as a starting point for tape manipulation. the final section is entitled "NPAI" and explores the full range of the ensemble's instruments in different combinations ranging from solo improvisations to folky drones. stunningly presented in a 12" square, 12-page booklet wrapped by a 12" by 24" print etched by Luc Thiburs. the print reveals multiple layers texture, both in terms of imagery and tactile quality as the process has embossed the paper. released in a numbered edition of 1000 copies.

Josep Vallribera / Tony Moore
"Assessments and Translations"
CD
$16.00
Matchless Recordings (England)
MRCD28
a collaboration between Spanish painter Vallribera and English cellist Moore (Free Jazz Quartet, Kiln, Resound, The Steve Miller Trio) recorded in 1995. the double tracked pieces on this 45 minute album combine classical virtuosity with the liveliness of free improvisation. "This recording is an interpretation of four scores with variations conceived during a collaboration between artist Josep Vallribera and myself. This took place at an atelier in Thelstorf, Niedersachen in Germany and was subsequently recorded in Amsterdam." - Tony Moore.

Jan van den Dobbelsteen
"Volume 12: Music for Closed Eyes"
CD
$11.00
Cosmic Volume (Netherlands)
cosmic12
a repetitive landscape of whistling ambient feedback reminiscent of "The 150 Murderous Passions…". one piece in 99 tracks and lasting 71 minutes.

Ven Voisey
"8L"
CDR
$12.00
Naninani Recordings (France)
nrec002
previously releasing audio under the name v.v. (with releases on Aesova, Throat and C.I.P.), Ven continues to create noise compositions playing with droning density sourced from field recordings. in this case the sounds were captured from 100 Font Blvd., apartment 8L and distilled into 30 minutes of audio, plus a media piece for execution on Windows computers (we only have Mac here, so haven't been able to preview it). presented in a limited edition of 100 copies and packaged in a nice printed threefold sleeve on 160 gram paper.

Caspar Johannes Walter
"Knoten"
CD
$19.00
Edition Thürmchen (Germany)
ETH 9831
compositions from the cellist of the Thürmchen Ensemble, including three cello trios, a short piece for choir, a duet for flute and bowed percussion, and a piece for trumpet, 2 cellos, and speaker. this is the second collection of his compositions, following a disc on Wergo. "… His conspicuously highly developed personal style is based upon careful listening. The audible influences of John Cage and Morton Feldman on the spiritual side and Helmut Lachenmann and Mathias Spahlinger on the material level - although one can scarcely separate the two - oblige many of his pieces to the aesthetics of silence, to the refusal of tumultuous mental and constructional concepts. Their effect calls for a change in perception. In their best moments, the compositions themselves even assist in achieving this … but Walter's pieces, which sometimes last only a few seconds, do not necessarily live from a narration, or a process, but from a gesture, which is, as a rule, formed in a completely logical manner and which is as open as it is closed. Caspar Johannes Walter's imaginative use of the instruments' scraping, scratching and stroking sounds is never violent, but always conveys respect for the instrument …" - Ute Schalz Laurenze, Bremer Weserkurier, 20.4.94. performers featured on this disc are Ulrike Zavelberg (cello), Tobias Moster (cello), Casper Johannes Walter (cello), Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart (choir), Astrid Schmeling (flute), Matthias Kaul (percussion), Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), and Manos Tsangaris (speech).

Tim Walters
"The Dry Well"
CD
$9.00
Core Dump Records (U.S.)
Core Dump Beta
"The Dry Well is a dark and emotionally charged musical work, created by extreme digital processing of acoustic sound sources. The first three tracks (Two-Thirds God, Descent of Inanna, and Under) are based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian legend that may be the oldest surviving work of literature. They evoke ritual, mythic journey, and the transition from the material to the spiritual realm. The last three tracks (For Want of a Nail, Valence, and The Dry Well), by contrast, are based on the formal idea of achieving as much as possible with severely limited means. Every sound in the three pieces originated from a kalimba (African thumb piano) built by one Molly Clark, age 8. From this child's instrument, a wealth of sound was created, gradually moving away from 'natural' kalimba tone and toward the realm of pure noise." - label description.

Whitelodge
"Stream of Dreams"
10"
$9.00
Beta-Lactam Ring Records (U.S.)
mt031
"#11/12 records in the Lactamase series. A fragment of celestial shrapnel: Whitelodge does indeed 'lodge' itself deep into the mind, restoring with it the body, and being of general benefit to one's overall constitution. Or, perhaps, it's just the little lobotomy you have always dreamed of. This 10" EP reveals a band capable of great magick and prodigious evolution. Whitelodge has become adept at marrying atmosphere to song structure without surrendering to a belabored posture, and this even beyond the debut magnum opus. There has been found a solid footing where each sound, each note, is perfectly placed and paced. Beginnings are given to pregnant, breathing intros, allowing the music to develop and resonate before the fully formed imagoes emerge, which ARE songs, but also tone poems. While not sounding at all like them, Whitelodge's methodology is something akin to My Bloody Valentine on 'Loveless', where pieces are sewn together, each ending making a subtle statement towards the birth of the next; textures taking equal place next to structure. The EP continues Whitelodge's exploration of quiet cosmics, both evoking psych-folk of old and more modern elements, like the gentler psychedelic moments found in Cindytalk (when growling through the hush, buzzing in the rushes) or Karl Blake seduced Sol Invictus (tiptoe, through the bassline). Because of timing and tone Red House Painters is a close cousin in many respects except that Whitelodge frames its songs with a greater emphasis towards experimentalism and certainly occupies a more ghostly plane. Repeated listenings virtually leave traces of ectoplasm on the speakers. Dustin Gilbert's voice is a patient and subdued instrument, confident and softly percussive and, by and by, very compelling. A beautiful and mysterious riddle of a release, which, if unraveled, may well, be a key to Heaven." - label description.

"An Uncommon Nature"
LP
$12.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM 6
Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Anomalous Records' existence, we are releasing a compilation album based around recordings from the outdoors, and featuring artists we release or are going to in the near future. Featured on this LP are new recordings from: Jeph Jerman, Mirror, Agog, Climax Golden Twins, Jonathan Coleclough, Mike Shannon, Monos, Richard Lerman, and Dave Knott. Throughout the packaging, and on four enclosed postcards, are beautiful black and white photographs taken by Rachael Jackson in the Olympic National Park in Washington state. While unified by a common theme, the tracks are quite varied including desert contact mic recordings of rain and wind on a tree [Jeph Jerman], processed sounds of a gate [Jonathan Coleclough], erhu played on a beach [Mike Shannon], mysterious singing 'water babies' [Agog], a mixture of wild celery stalks, tundra grass, a cord made from sinew, a whalebone roof support and the seals [Richard Lerman], and the straight recording of an approaching thunderstorm [Dave Knott]. This attention to detail in audio is matched by the close up photographs of fungi, dripping sap, and trees which surrounds it.

"BOXmedia CDR Series #1 Sampler"
CDR
$10.00
BOXmedia (U.S.)
BOXCDR100
sampler with one track each from all the CDRs in the first series. includes tracks by TV Pow, Shifts, AD-Relay, Andreas Berthling, Gunshop, Jliat, Liminal, and Sugimoto / Nakamura / Aikyama / Gutzeit. all the individual discs are long out of print.

"L'Air du large"
CD
$29.00
Motus (France)
M298004
the fourth release from INA GRM recording artist Denis Dufour's label is lavishly packaged, coming in 108 page, jewel case sized, hardback book with texts (in French with English translations) and photographs. the audio is a collection contemporary music for flute and piano composed by Bertrand Dubedout [previous release on Metamkine], Denis Dufour, Philippe Leroux, Daniel Tosi, and Bruno Giner as performed by Duo Ephémère. though these are instrumental works, they are written by artists schooled in the ways of electronic music (four of the five being former students of the great Ivo Malec). from the liner notes: "Although only revealed by instrumental sources, each work shows a high degree of cross-practice and invites a 'relaxed' mode of listening, appropriate to capturing the evolution of sound material and the richness of its 'morphological' characteristics. As in acousmatics, it is here an issue of projected images, clear-cut or progressive contours, deformations, stretchings, contractions, breaks in the temporal continuum, explosive displacements and somewhat Promethean recompositions of materials: Material / Motion / Music."

"Masse Mensch"
CD
$18.00
Odd Size (France)
CD OS 08
originally released on LP in 1982 by Selektion, this album was compiled by Ralf Wehowsky and Roger Schönauer of P16.D4 and includes pieces by Laughing Hands, P16.D4 (3 tracks), Nurse With Wound, The Work (2 tracks), Smegma, and DDAA (3 tracks). reissued on CD in 1992, this CD version is now long of print like the original LP and a classic of bizarre sounds from the early 1980's. unlike many compilations of the time that were very post-Industrial oriented, this album collects work by artists working in their own unique areas of unusual music.

"Microwave - A Manual"
CDR
$8.00
Microwave Recordings (Netherlands)
M010
minimal electronics. "An introduction to what microwave can be; with a jingle, Radboud Mens, Immedia, Petra Klusmeyer, Monotonos, Hem, Freiband, Kim Cascone, sony_mao, Tarlose, Surge, Brian Lavelle, Massimo, Cancerman, and Arizona Running." - label description.

"MUZARC: Music and Architecture"
CD-ROM
$15.00
Selektion (Germany)
SCDROM1
"Muzarc rather fans out or even multiplies the scope of visual and sonic interdependencies instead of expressing or conveying the specifics of an event (which is impossible anyway). Although the CD can't deny its relatedness toward a succession of events that took place it may, through its structure and architecture, encourage you to pursue your personal 'voyage of sound'. Muzarc happened as a seminar at the department of Architecture at University of Karlsruhe, Germany. CD-ROM realization: Björn Erik Behrens, Florian Fischer, Rob Liedgens, Claudia Westermann. Tutors: Hagen Schwenk and Achim Wollscheid. This CD-ROM runs on Mac (OS 9 and Classic) and Windows (system 3.11, 95/98 or NT). All texts are in English and German except for the essays, which are only in German. A sound output device is necessary to run the CD-ROM." - label description.

"New Electronic Music From Leaders of Avant-Garde"
CD
$27.00
Sony Records International (Japan)
SICC 78
reissue of the classic long out of print Columbia LP from 1968 with John Cage "Variations II" (1961), Henri Pousseur "Trois Visages de Liège" (1961), and Milton Babbitt "Ensembles for Synthesizer" (1962-4). the John Cage piece is performed by David Tudor, and is a wonderful exploration of the inside of a piano with contact microphones resulting resulting in some stunningly beautiful live electronic music in a recording that lasts almost 27 minutes. highly recommended! produced by David Behrman.

"Oasis - Music from Mills 2001"
CD
$12.00
Mills College (U.S.)
MC CD004
with Chris Brown, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne, John Bischoff and Alvin Curran. "The Mills College Music Department and Center for Contemporary Music continue to play a leading role in the development of experimental music, a tradition that took root at the small liberal arts college in Oakland, California more than sixty years ago. This CD documents work in the area of electro-acoustical music by six composers active at Mills today. Chris Brown and John Bischoff carefully sculpt their sonic materials according to a preconceived architectonic plan. Pauline Oliveros' contribution also originated in real time, during a performance that took place in the Mills Concert Hall. The diversity of sounds created during her improvisations on an electronically enhanced just-tuned accordion is astonishing. Maggi Payne is no less a musical alchemist, who, with a huge repertory of layering and processing techniques, transforms a seemingly minimal palette of sounds into a musical form of massive proportions. Payne focuses on forging organic connections between the elements of her sonic spectrum. Alvin Curran, on the other hand, revels in disunity. Curran juxtaposes materials from the virtually unlimited field of sound available to composers today, including the hauntingly beautiful voice of the late John Cage who opened the doors to this multiplicity. The two interludes and a postlude by Fred Frith provide further examples of 'polystylistic' virtuosity taken in yet another direction. Frith's elegant blending of sounds from a variety of musical and cultural sources has a magical nostalgic quality, cinematic in its effect. After more than a half century, experimental music remains a vital and dynamic tradition at Mills." - David W. Bernstein in the liner notes.

"Octandre"
CD
$17.00
Octandre (France)
OC951
innovative electroacoustic music from Jean-Michel Rivet, Thierry Alla, Christian Eloy, Thierry Pandelé, Christophe Havel, and Bernard Baritaud. "The Octandre society was founded in Bordeaux in June 1990 and aims to conceive and promote electroacoustic music. The members of the Octandre society have decided on the following goals: the opening of a composition studio, the setting-up of a specific promoting structure, the organization of educational and training activities as well as of contemporary music concerts, radio and audio production and record publishing. Furthermore, Octandre has in view the promoting of Bordeaux as an electroacoustic music creation center by inviting French and international composers, by commissioning new productions and by developing exchanges with other centers. The Aquitaine audience will benefit this way from a wide range of applications of contemporary music creations." - from the liner notes.

"Orang-utan"
CD
$19.00
Goppa Records (Ireland)
GROPPA045
"The re-launched Goppa label presents a collection of 'exclusive tracks from a host of Irish talent and various artists who work in Ireland or in collaboration with Irish artists.' Contributors include new Dublin group The Tycho Brahe, Daniel Figgis (an unreleased track from 2000 by this early member of The Virgin Prunes), a wild fiddling ride from Aranos, Volcano the Bear with King Camera (concocting a strange brew of tape experiments and vocal madness), The Jimmy Cake (segment from a live performance in Dublin), Melanie Finch (a bizarre 'curse'), the ever-intriguing Nurse With Wound (unreleased version of 'Die, Flip, or Go to India' featuring David Tibet), the Cork-based collective PKD (a cut-up composition with a dose of tribal beat), Belinda Quirke's dark and sad lullaby 'Chestnut', and a sound-environment by Artificial Memory Trace. An incredibly varied selection of works from the best of Ireland!" - Monica.

"Prix International Noroit - Léonce Petitot 1997"
2 x CD
$18.00
Noroit (France)
NOR 5
prize winning electroacoustic (or acousmatique) compositions from the fifth biennial competition sponsored by INA-GRM at the Noroit Cultural Center. the pieces are by Mathew Adkins, Natasha Barrett, Louis Dufort, Michel Pascal [featuring source material from Barre Phillips, Bernard Vitet, Daniel Kientzy, Elisabeth Chojnacka, Gérard Frémy, Yves-Pierre Artaud, Raymond Boni, Vinko Globokar and many others], Olivier Menini, Erik Mikael Karlsson, Andrew Lewis, Elizabeth Anderson, Philippe Blanchard (Lt. Caramel), Ingrid Drese, Hans Tutschku, and David Hainsworth. the pieces were selected by a jury made up of Annette Vande Gorme, Rudolf Frisius, Daniel Teruggi, François Bayle, Francis Dhomont, and Jacques Lejeune as well as by the audience.

"Solar - A Music Travelogue | Volume 2"
CD
$12.00
Soleilmoon Recordings (U.S.)
SOLAR 2
"The worlds of experimental electronics, sound sculpture, sound design, etc. are embracing collaboration and drawing inspiration from other musical forms. This new hybridization is creating some truly innovative work, and as genres, barriers and distinctions becoming increasingly blurred Solar is there to capture these moments and present them in an uncategorized music travelogue. No hidden meanings, just a pursuit of the new and innovative in the ever changing cross cultural currents in music's textural paths. Electroacoustic and electronic experimentation, sound sculptures, self built instruments, traditional percussion, fourth world, found sounds, location recordings and noise manipulations all have a part to play in this exciting musical stew. Solar Vol. 2 is presented as a compact disc with over 58 minutes of exclusive and specially recorded material from: Scanner, Freeform, Michael Prime, Dallas Simpson, Eddie Sayer and location recordings [made by Andrew Hulme of O Yuki Conjugate] from Thailand and India. It includes an 18 panel guide that fuses captured images with detailed information on the contributors." - label description.

"Spike - Works from BEAST - Vol. 1"
CD
$14.00
Sargasso (U.K.)
SCD28034
"All compositions on this CD were created in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham. Founded in 1982 at Birmingham University by Jonty Harrison, BEAST is dedicated to the public presentation of electroacoustic music through the use of multichannel sound systems. A diverse choice of composers and compositional styles testify of the richness and excitement of pure sound exploration. The best of BEAST." - label description. with pieces by Ian Armstrong, Simon Scardanelli, Dugal McKinnon, Antti Saario, Derek Thompson, Steven Naylor, Peter Batchelor, James Bentley, and Jamie Bullock.

"Three Aural Interpretations of a Drawing by Eric Lanzillotta"
7"
$8.00
Anomalous Records (U.S.)
NOM28
Limited edition of 250 copies pressed on clear vinyl and packaged in double-sided 14.5" by 10.5" poster sleeve. This 12-minute, 33 RPM EP features three sound artists playing a drawing by Eric Lanzillotta. Each artist has a unique, though abstract take on the drawing, which is included in the inside of the poster sleeve. The sounds include the calm physical motions of Jeph Jerman, the static activity of Leif Elggren and noise music of Ralf Wehowsky (sounding a bit like P16.D4 here). Jeph Jerman gained attention under the name Hands To, but has created his most refined work under his own name. He performs mostly with natural objects (stones, plant parts, feathers, etc) and has collaborated regularly with Wally Shoup, Greg Davis, Sean Meehan, Tim Barnes, Mike Shannon, Dave Knott, Eric Lunde, and many others. He has had several previous releases on Anomalous Records, and a new CD of his work will be released by Little Enjoyer this year. Leif Elggren is a pioneering sound, performance, book and installation artist from Sweden, as well one of the two kings of Elgaland-Vargaland. In the last 30 years, he has released a great deal of material on labels such as Radium 226.05, Anckarström, Flykingen, Ash International, Korm Plastics, Some, Absurd, Meeuw Muzak, Kning Disk, iDEAL Recordings, Touch and his own Firework Edition, which has also published many of his book works, such as the legendary "Experiment with Dreams" done in collaboration with Thomas Liljenberg. Ralf Wehowsky started making music in the Neue Deutsch Welle period of Germany history with his band P.D., which later became the group P16.D4. Since the dissolution of these groups, he has been recorded largely as a solo artist, though in truth always incorporating collaborations with various friends. Over the years he has worked with Andrew Chalk, bernhard günter, Kevin Drumm, Lionel Marchetti, Bruce Russell, David Grubbs, Jim O'Rourke, and many others.

"Tool"
CDR
$8.00
Microwave Recordings (Netherlands)
M005CD
very minimal rhythms and pulses for use as a tool in making new pieces. "In our microworld of microwave we need something on vinyl - people ask for it. But some people have no need for vinyl, so we decided to release the master that was used for cutting this record. Every track on this CDR last roughly 3 to 4 minutes and can be used a tool too. 19 tracks by /slo-fi, Goem, Surge and Richard Chartier and are loosely based on the first 4 releases on Microwave." - label description. 73 minutes.

"2:00 Matinee"
CD
$4.00
RRRecords (U.S.)
RRR-CD-25
various extracts of 1997 live in-store performances by Crank Sturgeon, Save Yourself, Jim Phelps Motherfucker, Lance Gargoyle, Foom, The Domains, Idea Fire Company, Commode Minstrals in Bullface, Quarreling Xenophobic Waitresses, and Jason Lescalleet.

"Variable Resistance - Ten Hours of Sound from Australia"
CD
$12.00
23five Incorporated / San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art (U.S.)
23F/SFM 902
"September 7-17, 2002 the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will presented 'Variable Resistance - Ten Hours of Sound from Australia', a selection of work by contemporary Australian sound artists. Organized by the multi-talented Australian musician and curator Philip Samartzis, 'Variable Resistance' surveys a cross-section of contemporary trends in Australian sound art practice. To underscore the extensive nature of these explorations in sound, the exhibition features a ten-day 'listening room' presentation of prerecorded material as well as an evening of live performances by four of the leading experimental musicians in Australia at present: David Brown, Pimmon, Philip Samartzis and Darrin Verhagen. The companion CD consists of 11 tracks by Oren Ambarchi, Robbie Avenaim, Philip Samartzis, David Brown, Jim Knox (xonk), Thembi Soddell, Darrin Verhagen, Pimmon and Delire. The beautiful 24 page booklet that accompanies the CD contains program notes and extensive writing about Noise and the Australian contemporary music scene." - label description.

"Variations 2 - A London Compilation"
CD
$15.00
Paradigm Discs (England)
PD 05
another excellent collection of lesser known and infrequently recorded artists living in London. "Akemi Ishijima has so far had only one other work released on CD, although she has had many international performances and broadcasts. She is currently completing her PhD at the Centre for Electroacoustic Music Studies at City University. Michael Ormiston is a virtuoso Khöömii singer with 3 tours of Mongolia under his belt. This piece uses only the morin khuur, a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument, but whilst the music here utilizes the harmonic techniques so sacred to the Mongolians, it also extends beyond its traditional origins. This is his first release on CD. Tom Wallace is an independent composer who organizes the Sonomorph events in London. The 2 events so far have focused mainly on new acousmatic works by young composers, as well as free improvisation. Hugh Davies is one of the first names in the academic world of electronic music. Additionally, his involvement in music making extends from working on groundbreaking pieces with Stockhausen in the mid 60's to playing in Music Improvisation Company in the 70's, and working with Borbetomagus in the 80's. John Grieve is the one artist to carry over from the first volume of variations. His statements are pure and direct. This is another piece for tenor saxophone. Bob Cobbing and Lawrence Upton recorded live at The Klinker. At the age of 77, Cobbing is undoubtedly Britain's foremost sound poet. Previous recordings are thin on the ground and nothing much has appeared in the last 2 decades. He does however, give many performances across London, often with Birdyak, (a trio with Hugh Metcalfe and Lol Coxhill.) Upton has occasionally collaborated with Cobbing since 1969. Clive Graham is better known for his involvement in the live electronics group Morphogenesis and the running of Paradigm Discs. This is his first solo recording. Rolf Gehlhaar became Stockhausen's personal assistant between 1967 and 1970 whilst at the same time he became a member of the Stockhausen Ensemble, with whom he toured and recorded extensively. Since this time he has concentrated on composition and the performance of his own works. This culminated in 1985 with the development of a real-time remote gestural control system. It consists of a set of ultrasonic sensors that pick up the movements of the performer/s, the sensors are linked to a computer, running real-time sound synthesis or sampler control. The many applications of this system are collectively known as SOUND=SPACE. Over the years he has continued to return to the infinite flexibility of this system. Additionally this piece is UHJ encoded for ambisonic playback. He has been living in London since 1975." - label description.

"Zenflesh Two - Homegrown - Organic - Purifying"
CD
$7.00
Zenflesh Records (U.S.)
ZFR2
this 1995 compilation includes tracks by Petit Mal, Andru Kirkpatrick, Matt Bramlette, Accelerator, Turk Knifes Pope, Hape Angel, Sound Source 21, and Brownie Mallets - all relatively unknown artists the United States creating subtle organic noisescapes which quietly creep along. packaged in cardstock wallet.